Burc'ya vaal burk'yc, burc'ya veman
by Ordo Warrior
Summary: Continuation of The Commandos of Mass Effect. War is upon the galaxy. Can Mandalorian intervention help stop galactic annihilation or are they doomed to join them?
1. Everything starts with Omega

**A/N: **And we're back, or more accurately, we're continuing. A fair warning to anyone new, I'm not stopping to help explain things to you. If you want to understand anything, go back and read my other story first, The Commandos of Mass Effect. So its almost time for the war of all wars, but before that there's another war that has to be fought first.

* * *

Even with all of their trusted allies waiting for them at the Citadel, Aran only allowed Tishad Taran and Hideyoshi Yatski to join. Tishad, the female drell freelancer who has worked with the Mandalorians on a number of assignments while on the Citadel, and one of the few allies he's willing to trust his people's lives with in a fight. Hideyoshi, a smuggler by trade, but what he really excelled at was piloting. Kix had befriended the human while on Omega freelancing, before his reputation was shattered by lies. Aran also wanted a pilot always at the helm, unlike Bev or Kix who are often considered potential members for land based operations.

Aran dismissed the other potential recruits; however he does plan to call on all of them, when the time was right. But in the meantime, he gave them all warnings about the war to come, discreetly, and recommended that they start stockpiling while they could.

And for almost three months that's exactly what the Mandalorians had been doing themselves. They've been working closely with the Turian Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance as they helped fit their ships with weapons from Elkoss Combine's latest line of ship weaponry, courtesy of Mandalorian technology. Palva had offered her services in assisting Garrus and his 'task force' that Primarch Fedorian was so 'kind' enough to give. The task force went to turian colonies across the territory to establish evacuation centers, fortifications, medical surpluses and hardened lines of communication, while the majority of the Mandalorians started working on assembling the Basilisk war droids.

With C3 and Bev's anti-virus programs in effect, Rasen and Forta started on getting the assembly lines working again. As they did though, the _Tervho_ received a rather urgent message from Aria T'Loak, the Pirate Queen of Omega, and occasionally their unofficial boss. All the message had was a header: OMEGA UNDER ATTACK. Aran had the facility locked up and shut down until their return.

* * *

With most of the crew back on the _Tervho_, they immediately headed to Omega. While in transit Lissarkh walked over to Aran as he stood over the CIC. "What are your plans, Mandalore?"

"It depends, General." Aran pulled up a hologram of the space station to display, "Omega is usually safe, partly due to the debris field around it, but mostly because no one dares to cross Aria. She usual finds anyone trying to secretly usurp her, and makes examples of them. Effectively like the Hutt Cartels or the Black Suns. So whoever is attack has to have done it in a surprise attack, have overwhelming numbers and firepower. Those are the few conditions I can think of where Aria's people and the gangs that call Omega home couldn't hold their own."

"Well we're about to find out." As the ship decelerated they now found themselves in the middle of war as merc ships were in combat, with Cerberus ships. As the battles continued they noticed that a number of Cerberus ships were fighting alongside the merc ships against the other Cerberus vessels that were coming from the Omega-4 Relay.

"Which IFF transponder are we using?"

Kix pulled it up for Hideyoshi, "The _Undoubted_. A cargo escort. With the holoemitters on the hull, we should be able to slip past relatively unnoticed."

Aran still didn't like seeing the battles going on around Omega, "Just get us to the docks as fast as you can, without drawing unwanted attention."

* * *

Aran was set as the Mandalorians were divided into three teams; all hands crucial to having the _Tervho_ ready to leave at a moment's notice were on active standby as the rest of the crew acted as a modest defense force to protect the ship from unwanted boarders, leaving Aran's team consisting, of Forta, Nyona, Prudii and Vren, to scout the situation on Omega.

With the team stealthily inserted into the station it wasn't long before holograms of a Cerberus officer appeared across the entire station as every speaker on board activated, "_This is Colonel Raymond Ashe, speaking to the residents of Omega on behalf of Cerberus! Our reinforcements outside have defeated the last of the creatures threatening to infest Omega. In light of recent events, Cerberus now considers control of this station vital to protecting the galaxy against the Reaper menace! Under orders from Cerberus, I took the first steps half an hour ago, by disabling station defenses run from Omega Control. Nothing must stand in the way of an orderly transition. Your remaining defenders have been eliminated in advance of our occupying forces. Let all factions aboard be on notice, from this day forward, Cerberus claims Omega! Submit now, for your own protection! Resist and suffer the consequences!_"

Nyona slapped her helmet, "That alien hating asshole's a moron! He just unleashed the biggest can of worms possible! Now everyone and their grandmother with a shotgun will be fighting for control. If he'd just said 'Cerberus has killed Aria; submit' it might have worked."

The team received a secure transmission from the ship, "_We can confirm, Cerberus forces are turning on the merc ships. They're decimating them._"

Aran watched as the Blue Suns and Blood Pack started to openly engage one another in the streets, "With this hell going on Cerberus won't be able to get full control as quickly as they predicted. But with their numbers now it's only a matter of time. Prudii, go find Banthar and his assistants and get them to the _Tervho_."

Prudii activated his tactical cloak and went off alone. Forta was attempting to backtrack the origin of the Colonel's transmission, "Cerberus has infected Omega's systems with a virus. It's almost impossible to try and find that Colonel without them noticing me scurrying around."

Vren kept his Z-6 close to his chest as he kept his eyes on a few of the Blood Pack commanders, "I wouldn't mind taking the chance to killing a few Blood Pack during the chaos, but what's our next step, Mandalore?"

"Right now, we need to confirm Aria's status. From there, hopefully we can organize a resistance to the Cerberus takeover before it's too late."

Nyona started laughing, "Too bad none of us have contacts within the Blue Suns or the Blood Pack, then we could really get this war turned on the right enemy, without needing Aria."

* * *

As Prudii searched for the elcor Banthar and his two salarian assistants, he watched as Colonel Ashe lead a Cerberus strike team though the slums, gunning down aliens, civilians and mercs alike, along the way. Even if he was with the others, Prudii knew his mission to help Banthar would be skewed. Prudii disappeared into the shadows once more to reach Banthar's shop.

Once he had arrived he found the doors were locked and many of the hull platings that were once on display now propped against the windows. Prudii continued to watch his surroundings as he knocked on the door, using a Sigma Squad pattern that they taught the shopkeepers to recognize. The door was opened by an inch before it was fully opened with the salarian assistant Maren welcoming him, "Oh thank whoever got us a Mandalorian! Hurry, get inside before something else happens!"

Once inside Maren quickly shut and locked the door. Prudii noticed that the shop was filled with several civilians, of almost every race on the station, who called this district of Omega home. Most of them were still cowering from the initial assault, some more so because of Prudii's presence. The elcor shop owner, Banthar, walked out from the storage area, "Gratefully, Thank you for coming to our aid. We were uncertain of our survival."

Banthar's other salarian assistants, Farzen, wasn't as convince of their rescue, "First those horrid creatures appeared, then Cerberus came to help, now they're attacking everyone. Looks like our luck may finally run out today."

"Maybe not." Prudii looked to Banthar, "I was ordered to get you and your assistants to the _Tervho_," Prudii then looked to the families within the shop, "and if anyone else wants to join us, grab anything you can that won't slow us down. We're going into the service tunnels in five." Everyone started to gather the few belongings they had as Banthar also prepared to leave his shop for good.

* * *

Aran, Forta and Vren were staying out of sight and using the ventilation system to monitor Cerberus movement while Nyona was getting news from her former people. "Well this ain't gonna work." Nyona activated her omni-tool, "That greed bastard Anto is attempting to fill Aria's shoes. He thinks he can just stroll in and be the next Aria."

Vren could only laugh at the batarian's attempts, "Aria earned that status and reputation. It not something someone can just claim without a fight. And no one will respect him."

"Yeah, well that's not stopping him from trying to parlay with the gangs and mercs," she led them toward the meeting location to watch as the gangs have at it with each other again just outside of Afterlife.

Before the fighting could really get intense Cerberus troops, led by Colonel Ashe, interrupted and started firing on everyone there. As Anto and the others retreated into Afterlife, Ashe and his men were executing the stragglers before one of the Cerberus troopers gave Ashe a comlink. "Forta, try and listen in on them."

Forta scanned the frequencies, using one of the ciphers they'd captured, he got it. "_Your forces are under my command, Colonel Ashe__—__never forget that! I'll be there in a few minutes to storm the fortress, just like Anticlus at Troy. Elbrus out._"

Forta didn't need Aran to tell him what to do next. "Alright apparently in one of the human mythological stories, these ancient Greek guys created a giant wooden horse to hide inside and attack a city called Troy. This Anticlus guy was one of those Greeks and he almost blew their cover while inside the horse."

Aran smiled, "That means Aria's alive and very angry. Let's shadow them. I'm sure they'll take us to Aria."

* * *

Prudii had to silently kill seven Cerberus troops but beyond that, they met with little resistance as they all traveled to the hangar where the _Tervho_ was docked. He had called in advanced about their arrival along with the extra people. With the hangar to themselves, the _Tervho_'s garage doors opened as more Mandalorians came out to ensure the security as the medics helped the wounded.

As Banthar was the last to enter, he turned to Prudii, "Thankful, If you hadn't arrived, I do not know what might have happened to us."

"We have a means for you to repay us. But first, we're here to help Aria."

* * *

Aria held General Oleg Petrovsky at gun point as the _Elbrus_ docked with Omega. "If you really wanted security, you could have done what everyone else does with me. You could have made a deal!"

"On your terms, Aria. And we wouldn't have trusted you. Would you have trusted us?"

Aria pushed the pistol harder against Oleg's back as the two walked back onto Omega, "No. You're a curious man, Oleg Petrovsky—you almost have a mind of your own. Almost. But I can't make the same mistake you made in keeping me alive. So this is…goodbye…" Aria turned to where she started to hear footsteps, only to find more Cerberus troops heading their way.

Ashe shouted, "I knew it! Get her!"

Ashe and his men quickly opened fire on Aria, but was saved when Oleg pushed her out of the way, "Look out!"

The troopers ceased firing to try and secure Aria. But the Pirate Queen of Omega wouldn't have it. She flared her biotics, scaring them as she moved past them before unleashing her rage and sending them flying. Ashe shouted at his men as they tried to recover from being thrown onto their back, "After her!" From the rafters, three shots were fired. Each one penetrated the visors of three trooper helmets.

Aria was now in the ventilation system where two very familiar faceplates were waiting for her. "What the hell kept you?"

"Finding your army, finding you. They weren't exactly easy tasks with Cerberus fucking everything to hell."

The Mandalorians were walking with Aria as they were going to where Anto and the others were holding up, and found Anto attempting to get everyone to work together, again, "—if you people don't get your shit together and stop fighting each other! You had it good under Aria, but these Cerberus people want the whole place to themselves!"

One of the krogan quickly pointed out as he was checking his shotgun, "So who are we supposed to fight for, Anto? You?"

A krogan sitting next to him laughed in full agreement, "You don't have the quad to run a revolution. There's only one person we'd follow, and they knew that!"

"I'm glad to hear that," Aria walked in with her Mandalorian entourage as everyone turned to her, "because I've got a little job for everyone and this time I'm cutting everyone on Omega in. Remember, they're still just tourists on Omega but this turf is ours. If they want Omega, they'll have to take it over our dead bodies!"

Aran pulled up a map of Omega, "And I've got a few suggestions on how to send them to hell."

* * *

Cerberus troopers were attempting to secure various areas of Omega, however they continued to encounter more organized and coherent resistances from the mercs and gangs. What remained of a Cerberus squad came retreating before several mines were remotely detonated. While Colonel Ashe and General Petrovsky argued about strategies, the Suns were signaled by Forta to strike. Five batarians came from out of the floor with guns blazing. They were able to take out four Cerberus troops however they lost three of their men before jolting back to the vents.

"Gone again! Into those blasted ventilation tunnels. Everyone, grenades!"

Petrovsky stopped them, "Don't bother, you'd only be walking to your own deaths. Without a proper understanding of the ventilation system, or where they may lead, we'd be walking blind. Open to a number of surprises or dead ends. Listen to me, I know sieges! Stalingrad held out for months, Aria can deny us the use of Omega indefinitely, but ultimately, that isn't what she wants. She's a businesswoman. The longer this goes on, she knows, no one profits from running Omega."

Ashe still hated all of this strategic planning crap, "She's been screwed once. She won't just come out and talk!"

"No, only one thing will get her out of hiding…victory. So let's give it to her."

* * *

A Cerberus strike team was traveling through the slums of Omega, searching for Aria's position, and ordered by Colonel Ashe to shot on sight. However their equipment seemed to be having difficulty, "Perkinson, what's the status on the comm?"

"Nothing. It's like we hit a dead zone. Nothing's getting out or coming in."

"We need to keep in contact with the General and Colonel if we find Aria or…"

"Krogan!" The massive brute was in grey armor with gold highlights as it crushed three of the troops against a wall with his left shoulder.

"Perkinson!" As the krogan pasted by the others, their leader noticed the krogan was missing his right shoulder guard and a strange weapon strapped to his back, a massive repeater of unknown origin. It wasn't until he saw the helmet's T-shaped visor did he understand, "No, he's a Mandalorian. Weapons free, open fire!"

"What the…" Try as they might, their weapons weren't firing.

"Sir, our thermal clips are overheated!"

"Impossible, we all restocked before leaving." Before any of them could load a new thermal clip, a woman in fully armored from head to toe in purple and blue launched a biotic sphere at them. The biotic was a singularity field and caught the remaining three in it.

Two more individual walked out of the shadows, one was in red and black armor and the other in dark blue armor. Just like the krogan, they all had T-shaped visors on their helmets, just as the Mandalorians have been said to have. As they helplessly were being flung around by the singularity field, the Mandalorians pulled out pistols and fired a round for each Cerberus trooper flying. Each shot finding its mark, the troopers' helmets.

* * *

As the three bodies fell to the ground, Forta took off the helmet from one of the troops Vren had crushed to try and have a channel to listen in on Cerberus where detection wasn't an issue. While Forta did that, Nyona was checking their tags, "If they knew where they were going, they could've flanked Aria. We need to retake Afterlife soon."

"In time. We don't have an opening that will get us even close to the fortress without them waiting for us in force."

"Hey guys, I think you might want to listen to this."

Forta switched the helmet's comm to the speakers for the group to hear, "_Repeat, all teams, this is General Petrovsky. We are recalling our operations on Omega. We have reports that the Adjutants are loose in other systems beyond the Omega-2 Relay. All hands are to head there now. Omega is now an open city once again._"

"A ploy if ever I heard one."

"Ya think, humpback?" Nyona started walking back toward Aria's last known position, "So who gets to tell Aria about this?"

* * *

After the news from Aran and interrogating a fleeing Cerberus flunky, Aria and Aran were surveying the streets below. "I don't like this. Too many civilians are packing a lot of firepower, and the mercs, they're too chummy with each other. Wait…" Aran took a second look around at everyone, "There's a pattern to their movement. And I only see humans. Where are the other races?"

Aria took Aran's sniper rifle to look herself, "I don't recognize any of these people…" Aria then spotted two humans with very memorable faces, one in Eclipse armor and the other in Blue Sun uniform, "There they are. Sorry Petrovsky, you only get one chance to fool me." Aria turned back as she radioed her people, "Anto, get everyone into position, it's time to break out our own little surprise…"

* * *

Aran continued to track the two as they diverted from the rest of the 'populace'. "_Strike team, the shepherds have stepped away from the flock._"

A salarian wrapped in very thick robes came out from behind Petrovsky and Ashe, "Help us! Someone help us!" A turian, krogan and vorcha now appeared from the shadows around the salarian, each in similar robes, pale and sickly looking, "We tried to hide in the Gozu District, but the Plague has broken out again! Help us!"

Petrovsky thought aloud, "The Plague, Aria should have contained that—"

The Colonel quickly pushed forward and shouted, "There's no help for you here, aliens! Why don't you go to hell?"

The group tossed their robes into the air, using them as a distraction long enough to grab the weapons concealed by them. "Why don't you?!"

"Get down!" Ashe owned Petrovsky once again, but this fight was mostly a distraction so Aria and Anto could reach Afterlife. Once she was inside, she would be untouchable. The assault also forced the other hidden Cerberus forces out into the open as they tried to protect Ashe and Petrovsky, making them easy targets for Nyona and Aran's sniper rifles.

As the fighting continued around Petrovsky and Ashe, the two were pulling back. Forta intercepted another Cerberus order, this one from Ashe, "_Attention standby team, she's in Afterlife. Activate option Omega-Two!_"

* * *

With a guard force watching over the entrance to Afterlife, Anto reported, "We scanned for everything we could think of, just like you asked, Aria; explosives, biotoxins, gases—looks clear. Maybe the Mandalorians are just being a bit paranoid."

"No, it's good. There's something here waiting for us. And once we find this little surprise, get the Illusive Man on the holo. He's mad a big mistake. Let's see what he says about how badly his people have screwed up. Get in there and start the call."

Anto rushed over to Aria's 'throne', "You got it."

Aria was expecting Anto to have already contacted the Illusive Man by now. Aria started walking up the steps, "Anto? What's keeping," what she found wasn't what she wanted, "Anto!" an Adjutant as it was sapping the life from the batarian.

* * *

The roar of the Adjutant was recognized by Aria's guards as they all fled the scene. Having escaped the battle with the gangs, Petrovsky turned back to Ashe, "What the hell did you do? Where did you find a Reaper Adjutant?"

Ashe walked over to Afterlife's doors, "We put one in stasis when we were mopping up! While you were coming up with your silly false flag routine, my people were hiding the stasis module in the vents! I remotely deactivated it! My orders are to take control of this station, so we use an alien to kill an alien! Now help me shut the doors!"

As Ashe was trying to barricade the entrance with a bench, Petrovsky tried to make him see his true actions, "You fool! There are other ways out of that place! You've endangered every soldier on Omega!"

Ashe quickly pointed his pistol to Petrovsky's head, "Acceptable losses, Petrovsky! But you'd never understand that!"

Petrovsky drew out his knife as he grabbed Ashe's gun and threw it off aim. Before their fight could truly begin the door to Afterlife was blasted apart as the Adjutant was flung at them, knocked the two over. Aria, furious and engulfed in a fierce biotic field, roared, "GET…OFF…OF MY…STATION!"

Ashe quickly recovered as he aimed his pistol at Aria, "Die asari!"

As Petrovsky got back to his feet he looked toward the Colonel, "Ashe, look out for…the Adjutant," too late as the Adjutant had Ashe's head between its fingers.

Aria blasted the Adjutant with another biotic blast that killed it this time. Petrovsky picked up Ashe's pistol as Ashe was struggling to get back up as the transformation process had already started. "Petrovsky. What…are you…going to do…"

"What I am sworn to do. Protect my troops." Petrovsky fired the weapon once into the back of Ashe's head.

Aria had a bit of a smirk as she watched Ashe's lifeless body fall back down. "You should have done that a long time ago, Petrovsky. And I should have done this."

She slowly walked over to Petrovsky as he was separating Ashe's head from the body, ensuring the transformation ceased. "You might Aria, but you should know that the ruse wasn't the only reason I evacuated my troops. If that failed, I had another option; firepower. I've called in enough to destroy Omega, level by level, if need be. I don't want to, but if Cerberus can't have Omega, we won't allow anyone else to use it against us. I'll evacuate the civilians I can before the firing starts. But only you can buy Omega's survival; by yielding."

"Give up Omega? I am Omega!"

Aria started flaring again, however Petrovsky remained calm as he looked Aria eye to eye. "Then you will suffer the same fate, destroyed bit by bit. I'm guessing you don't want to see Omega burned to a cinder. I congratulate you on your defense, Aria. Perhaps Cerberus has underestimated nonhumans, you fought for your territory well. Very much a classic stand, like MacArthur and the Americans at Bataan. Heroic, but a losing effort."

Aria looked up to the vents to a sniper with Petrovsky in their sight, she slowly looked back to Petrovsky, "Whatever. I know something about that history too, Petrovsky, I know what happened next. You think about it while I'm gone."

* * *

The _Tervho_, disguised as the _Undoubted_, fled Omega as more Cerberus ship started to flood the area to secure the station. "I can't believe you lost Omega. There was a time when I thought I'd be the one doing that to you."

Aria didn't turn to Nyona as she continued to watch Omega get smaller and smaller, "This is far from over! I will retake Omega, and the Illusive Man will feel my wrath!"

Aran walked in on Nyona and Aria in the observation deck, "So where to now? Illium is almost like Omega, and I know you have no desire to go to Thessia."

"No. You're taking me to the Citadel. I'll need the space to try and regain my control, but it'll take time." Aria then turned to Nyona, "And in the meantime, I'll be borrowing you, as recompense for everything I taught you, and everything you put me through before you left. There's a lot of work to do and I'll need to rein in those idiot merc leaders before they think they can do whatever they want. And I expect you Mandalorians to help when I'm ready."

* * *

**A/N: **I just realized(two things actually) I never went over the colors scheme of the more promenant Mandalorians have for their armor, and my reasoning for believing drell females have breasts. To the first, I will do that over the progress of this "story", and as for the second, I believe drells to be a reptomammalian species(given how Thane and the other drells look so human, facially). Under this assumption, I then turned to the Falleen of the Star Warsverse and their females.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

Burc'ya vaal burk'yc, burc'ya veman.(BOOR-sha vahl BOOT-keesh, BOOR-shah veh-MAHN)- A friend in need... Lit. A friend during danger is a true friend


	2. Divide and Fortify

**A/N: **I already had half of this written out when I posted the first chapter. Just had to finish the other half.

* * *

With Nyona now acting as Aria's personal bodyguard on the Citadel, Aran had the civilians from Omega also depart on the Citadel, using his Spectre status to ensure a smoother transition with C-Sec. Prath was given permission to give a short brief to Banthar and his two salarian aids. "Well boys we're going to be very busy really soon and we've got a lot of projects we need completed as soon as possible."

Farzen quickly cut him off, "OK, what are you expecting us to do?"

"We want you gentlemen to work on building this…" Prath displayed the basic schematics for a Basilisk war droid.

"Doesn't seem too complicated. How many?"

Prath looked at a datapad he had, "Currently, we have enough parts for roughly a thousand units. We'd like over ten hundred thousand completed and on standby in the next two to three months."

"Ten hundred thousand? Are you insane, volus?! We wouldn't be able to finish another thousand units in that time frame!"

"Please, you haven't heard all of the details. All the parts will come to you, they're all shipped to a facility with its own assembly line to do most of the heavy lifting, we just need people we trust to help speed things along and finish the finer details we can't simply let machines handle."

Banthar stopped Farzen, "Appreciatively, We will gladly do this for the Mandalorians."

"You will?"

"We will?"

Banthar looked at the designs, "With great respect, We owe the Mandalorians many things; our shop's recent fortune, our lives. Excitedly, And these ships will be our greatest challenge yet. I cannot think of anything better for us to do to repay our debt to the Mandalorians."

* * *

A month had passed since Cerberus captured Omega, and still no word from Aria about her plans on retaking it. During this time Tishad, Hideyoshi, and Hioja were starting to intergrate into the Mandalorian culture. However, Tishad continually refused the armor, preferring to fight as she always had, with speed, stealth and a good combat knife. Hideyoshi didn't mind the armor, seeing as how Bev and Kix have demonstrated that their suits can actually help improve response time while at the helm. Hioja had some hesitation, but with more encouragement from Rasen and Tare, she's started to open up more to the crew and accepted the armor crafted for her.

Prudii was honing his skills with the M-98 against moving targets as Tare was having another one of his chats with the commando, "So, Prudii…" Prudii reloaded the sniper rifle, "I don't know if you have any experience with this but…" Prudii popped another thermal clip as he tracked the next target, "Well it involves Hioja…"

Prudii eased his finger away from the trigger before closing the rifle. "You like her." Tare fell silent. Prudii locked the door to the room, "You've got to show her you like her."

"But how? I'm a navigational specialist with marine training, she's a number cruncher. What do we have in common besides being the same race?"

"Then you have three options. Continue to watch from the sideline and hope something happens, the direct approach, or recon."

Tare thought about Prudii's suggestions, "Are you sure someone is willing to help me with this?"

Prudii unlocked the door and picked up the sniper rifle, "You didn't hear this from me. Rasen's been spending some 'girltime' with Hioja. She might know something the rest of the crew doesn't."

* * *

In the _Tervho_'s hangar C3 continued to inspect all of the hyperdrive instillations and Dagger's crew were turning the remains of the ARC-170 into proper spare parts for the_ Tervho_ and _Ne'tra Kyr'am_. However Aay'han pulled Rang down there for a special request. "Rang, you know how I have a grappling hook installed into my armor?" showing his left gauntlet to him. "I've been thinking about that omni-tool of yours and the fireballs you can throw. What if we can turn that into a flamethrower?"

"You've gotten meaner since our disappearance. I like it!"

"Well Alpha did pick me because of how close I was to you boys, and knowing that Tervho also gave me some training before Genosis. I guess I developed a bit of the 'best defense is a good offense' mentality. Personally, I never really liked the wrist mounted flamethrowers. Too much could go wrong."

"Yeah I hear ya, back blast from wind or the Force would toast ya, improper maintenance could take off your arm, the enemy could shot up your tank forcing it to explode or you could run out of fuel at a really inconvenient time."

Aay'han looked to Rang's arm, "So those things are infinite?"

"Well not exactly," Rang activated his omni-tool, "we'd probably get a couple of seconds of flame from her before she shuts down to recharge, but other than that, it can be used unlimitedly. Or at least until you need to replace the omni-tool. Like that's gonna happen in the middle of combat."

"Just tell me you can make me one."

"I can do one better, I'll make myself one with yours. Besides were just following Rule 49's example: Being hard is good, being hard with superior tech is better."

Aay'han started to chuckle, "You know, I always thought you'd somehow be the death of me or your squadmates."

"Funny, I did too."

* * *

"No, no, no! A thousand times no!"

Kix stormed out of the conference room with Palva's hologram still projecting, "_We need you, Kix._"

He quickly turned to the hologram, "I'm not becoming the hierarchy's lapdog. And I'm most certainly not going to go into a charge that I know will get me killed!"

"_This isn't about the hierarchy, it's about our people! I can promise you you'll maintain your Mandalorian status, we just want you to help train pilots._"

Kix stopped. "I can teach them however I want? No hierarchy interference? No oversight?"

"_It might take some persuading with the Primarch, but I might be able to secure your own flight. Maybe even a wing._"

Kix started to scratch the back of his neck, "No promises, but I'll get there when I get there. And it better be an entire wing waiting for me, or I'm coming straight back here."

* * *

The Mandalorians had become extremely busy now as many were trying to contact loved ones and continue their duties on the ship. Bev stepped away from the cockpit as he was contemplating something down in engineering. Rasen found him alone among the pipes, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. The Alliance is requesting my services to help teach students at one of their space stations."

Rasen was leaning herself against Bev as she wrapped her arms around him, "That doesn't seem like nothing. And it's not the job your worried about, is it?"

"It's not. It's everyone else here. I'm the best slicer here and I'm one of the _Tervho_'s pilots. Without me…"

"I thought that's why Aran picked up Hideyoshi, so you and Kix could go do what you could to help others? And you're not the only one here who knows how to break through a multi-layered security system without being detected. Maybe all of this worry is about something, or someone, else."

Bev was now looked at her, face to visor. Without a word he slowly removed Rasen's mask, gazing upon her unobscured face. Her skin was slightly pale due to her life in an envirosuit, but her pigments still had some color to them, a light blue coloring. The two began to exchange their feelings towards one another, hidden from the rest of the galaxy.

* * *

Drok, Jorgal and Vren were looking toward one another after Aran had spoken with him in his quarters. "Are you sure, what about the rest of the crew?"

"We will always be _vode_, but Wrex is starting to get some opposition from his broodbrother, Wreav. And he's getting a lot of support from the traditionalists, mostly members of the Blood Pack from what I've heard."

Vren looked to Drok, "Well this would be a good time to introduce that pup to these two plate-brains."

"What could we learn from a tank-born?"

"More than you'd think. Plus you two would like his style." Vren turned back to Aran, "So what about Wrex?"

"He's a clan chief, I think he can take care of himself. I just need you three down there as added insurance for Wrex to keep as many krogan alive to fight the Reapers, instead of each other. That includes the Blood Pack. At least until the war is over."

Vren groaned in distain, "Fine, but they won't be safe once the Reapers are all dead. They all still owe a debt I intend to make them pay in blood."

* * *

Prudii continued his training alone until his HUD indicated he had an incoming message over his private channels. Prudii lowered the sniper rifle to answer, "Tali, what's wrong?"

"_I…I've been asked to join the Admiralty Board. And I accepted. Admiral Xen and Gerrel are trying to push the Migrant Fleet to attack the geth._"

"What about Leigon? Isn't there a way to broker peace? He seemed opened to negotiations."

"_I know but…I need help. We need three votes to even open communication with the geth, but Raan is on the fence. If I openly talk to her about it, Xen might try to use it against us._"

Prudii looked back at his target, "How am I supposed to help? I'm just a fighter. I don't know much about politics."

"_If you could just talk with Raan, convince her to side with me and Admiral Koris against going to war with the geth._"

"Alright, but I can't come alone. We need to make this look 'official'." Prudii folded the Widow sniper rifle back up, "Say you hire a couple of us as liaisons, or bodyguards, or something, I don't know. It might work. I'll talk with Aran about it, he might know how to handle this. Just try and hold them off for a bit longer."

"_Please, hurry…_"

* * *

Aran was busy working with navigation to get everything set up for their first hyperdrive test. "If we can't get the hyperdrive to coordinate with the _Tervho_'s systems, we might end up traveling the opposite direction."

"Mandalore…"

Aran turned around, "Prudii, what do you need?"

"Tali just messaged me. She's become an Admiral. And she fears her people may be going to war with the geth. We might be able to help with a swing vote."

"Admiral Raan…" Aran looked back to the holomap. "And your hoping I could make this seem official." Aran looked to Tare as he tried to think. It took him some time before he finally turned back to Purdii, "I got it. Due to our relation with the Migrant Fleet and its people, we're sending two of our best to aid however needed. News of the Migrant Fleet's refusal of allowing Citadel inspectors on their ships has us a bit worried. Tell Rang to finish his project for Aay'han and get ready."

* * *

The Mandalorian shuttle was welcomed by the _Rayya_ as the two Mandalorians were escorted to the Admirals. "Welcome Mandalorians. We're sorry to have worried your leader. But he should know that if we require your aid we would ask for it."

Rang wrapped his arms around two of the marine escorts, "Well Admiral Gerrel, Mandalore just want to be certain. Besides you'll only need the two of us when you get to the ground fights against the clankers."

Prudii stepped in front of his brother, "It's mostly formalities, Admirals. Mandalore tends to takes every precaution he can foresee," turning to Tali as he finished.

Admiral Koris walked forward, "And if you could talk these fools out of this insanity then I am more than willing to forget all that transpired the last time we met."

* * *

The crew was starting to feel the ship's emptiness with Nyona, Palva, Bev, Kix, Jorgal, Drok, Vren, Prudii and Rang all gone within the past month. Banthar and his assistants have completed nearly two-thirds of the Basilisks requested, and using their smuggler contacts, the Mandalorians had the completed war droids transferred to Jarrahe Station in the Eagle Nebula to keep them hidden. Soon after the smugglers started to load up their ships, the Mandalorians had Rojas, Taridus and several other contacts to watch over the droids until they were needed, after repairing the various breaches on the station to make it livable once more.

The _Tervho_ took a side trip back to the Citadel just to pick up Emily Wong. Emily had packed herself a bag of personal belongings and a camera to shot her stories. As she and Aran were going through decontamination he turned to her, "Now Miss Wong, I know you need to record things for your stories, but I would like to ask you to have some limitations, for the safety of the crew and their loved ones who aren't on this ship."

"All understandable. Your success it partly due to the secrecy your people maintain, Mandalore."

"Good then. Just give the crew some notice of when and where you're planning to start filming. A couple of them don't always wear their helmets while they work."

The door finally opened with several of the Mandalorians ready to greet her. "Miss Wong."

"Welcome aboard Emily."

"Miss Wong, could you sign this."

From the crowd an unknown reptilian humanoid to Emily was mostly wrapped in a black cloak as it walked toward her and started to sniff her. "Miss Wong. You will be an excellent news reporter on this ship. I will look forward to your future broadcasts here."

Aran walked into the crew, "Alright give Miss Wong some breathing room. You'll be seeing a lot of her soon enough." Aran turned back as the others disbursed, "Actually you came at a really good time. We're about to test some unique technology. You might want to get that cam droid of yours rolling." Aran walked over to the cockpit, "Hideyoshi, Dagger, how are the systems?"

"Drive core is spinning at 100%."

"C3 just reported all hyperdrive components are functioning properly. She's on standby if anything goes wrongs."

"Cross your fingers…"

Aran leaned back to Emily, "You're about to witness the first hyperspace jump this galaxy has ever seen…"

"Or die horribly crashing into something at FTL speeds."

Aran stopped Dagger from talking again, "Alright, set the coordinates to the Athena Nebula. We'll work our way up to further clusters, and then the system not connected by the relay network directly."

The Tervho was now positioned away from the Citadel, the relay and from civilian traffic as they were now pointed toward the asari home system. "Hyperdrive online, coordinates punched in. Moment of truth." Dagger pulled down a lever as the stars around them seemed to become elongated before finally they were speeding past them and everything around them turning to a blue swirling corridor similar to when traveling via mass relays. After about three minutes of travel Dagger took hold of the lever, "Alright, pulling us out in three." Dagger slowly raised the lever as the blue tunnel changed back to elongated stars and everything turned back to normal.

"Time check. What's the time and date registered on the extranet?"

There was a communication from the ship's engineering, "_We temporarily lost all external connections while in hyperspace, as expected. Extranet sources confirm our time is still corresponding to the rest of the galaxy. The hyperdrive and shielding preformed perfectly._"

"_This is navigations. We are confirmed, we have reached the Athean Nebula._"

The crew began to cheer for the successful test as Dagger leaned back in his seat, "That was nerve racking. It not going to be as 'fun' when we try to go across the galaxy."

"That was an exciting first day. I hope the rest of my time onboard isn't as dangerous."

"Things should be smoother now, Miss Wong. Welcome to life on the _Tervho_."

* * *

Not even a week after the first test of the hyperdrive Rasen, Hioja and Tare received the same message from the Migrant Fleet. It was an emergency recall for all quarians, on Pilgramage or not, to return to the Fleet post haste. "Tare, Rasen, any ideas as to what this means?"

"This is an emergency message to all quarians away from the Flotilla. One of the reasons why the Admiralty Board might authorize this is because our people are preparing for war."

"Now the real question, against who; the Reapers or the geth?"

"Mandalore, what do you want us to do?"

Aran gently grabbed Rasen's hand, "All three of you should return to the fleet. Try to keep as many of your people alive. I just hope Prudii and Tali were successful. I'm sorry to throw you into that mess."

"The _Tervho_, the Flotilla, both are our homes. And we'll fight to protect them both."

* * *

As the _Ne'tra Kyr'am_'s crew was preparing to take Hioja, Rasen and Tare back to the Flotilla and to assist Rang and Prudii however they could, Pyth and Lissarkh also approached the hangar. "General, Professor. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry Mandalore, I know this may seem to be rather inconvenient, given the recent and current departures and all. But I have received a request of assistance from Dr. T'Soni. It has to do with something about Prothean Archives on Mars. I have no idea where this Mars is but the Prothean Achieves are what interest me the most."

"With the Reaper approaching, T'Soni must be scrounging what little information she can in hopes of finding a means to defeat the Reapers. Professor once we can confirm the hyperdrive will continue to work properly, C3 will join you. But what about you, General? Why are you here?"

"There is a disturbance in the Force. Voices being silenced in quick succession."

"The Reapers?"

"I do not know. But I cannot ignore this. I will investigate this alone. I shouldn't be long."

"Alright General, I don't like letting you go alone, but you are a Jedi, you can watch out for yourself. I just hope the Force is really on our side when the Reapers show up. Cause we're going to need every bit of help we can get."

* * *

**A/N: **The Mandalorians have scattered all over the galaxy. But is that enough to prepare for this war?

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

n/a


	3. Breach of Protocols

**A/N: **And now the Reaper invasion has begun.

* * *

As per T'Soni's advisement, Professor Pyth has maintained a rather unusual mystery about herself by wearing a full helmet to cover her head while working on the Prothean Achieves on the fourth planet in the Sol system. Pyth was also given C3 as an assistant to help her keep some form of order when she started working on the archives and its data. Pyth and C3 continued to remain somewhat distant from the humans, but Pyth continued to participate in may scientific debates while at the site.

Another day of working on translations Pyth and C3 were alone, "Now this here states that these Protheans viewed humans as potential…goods? Or is it slaves? Hmmm…maybe shock troops. I swear this one's calligraphy was horrid." Pyth could hear the thoughts of most at the site however something seemed to be silencing them, many ending in 'why' or 'what'. She quickly understood as three unknown, and very distorted, thoughts started to come closer to her. "C3, could you go retrieve my work from last week," knowing full well the data was at her fingertips. She just wanted the droid to move, something C3 picked up on. Pyth was slowly pulling out the _beskad _from its sheath while hidden it underneath her work station.

Without a moment's hesitation, Pyth used the sheath to knock back one of the trio approaching behind her. With him disoriented she turned the blade onto its first kill, slicing across the unknown assailant's chest. She grabbed the third with the sheath and used him as a shield when the first opponent opened fire on her. Pyth tossed the body onto the last assailant before stabbing through both. With the trio down, Pyth took a closer look at their armor configurations, yellow, white and black, not the standard blue Alliance colors. Pyth quickly gathered up all of her research into a pack as C3 started to download and erase all other data from the network. The two had to move quickly if they wanted to escape.

* * *

Commander Shepard, incarcerated for the past six months on Earth after the tragic events of the Bahak system unfolded. Now the Reapers have arrived, in force, and decimated through the Systems Alliance's forces. Even with Manadalorian weaponry, the Reapers were too many to try and stop. Admiral Hackett was able to secure all Alliance Fleets active in the Sol system, though with heavy casualties. Relying on the _SSV Normandy SR-2_ to have made it off Earth, he relayed a message to Shepard to head to the Mars Archives before heading to the Citadel to meet up with Dr. T'Soni. Unfortunately they found Cerberus forces executing Alliance personnel just outside the facility. After dealing with them all, Commander Shepard, Ashley Williams and James Vega had reach into the facility where they encountered Liara T'Soni as she fled a group of Cerberus troops.

After being filled in by Liara about the situation and the need to reach the Archives before Cerberus, Shepard ordered James to return to the shuttle as a fallback should Cerberus reach the data first. Cerberus troops were trying to cut through a locked door, however something was wrong. They could hear gun fire coming from the door along with muffled voices, "Hurry! Get that door opened!"

Shepard, Williams and T'Soni took cover behind the trucks as the welding continued. "Fall back! Fall back!"

"Got it!" as the door was slowly pried open a blade forced its way through the small opening. The blade was pulled back, the doors fully opened and a Cerberus soldier falling out along with a helmeted individual as she walked over the body while wiping the blood covered sword with a cloth.

The unusual individual paused for a moment, placing a hand against her helmet. She finally sheathed the sword and removed the helmet to reveal an ugly, yet familiar, face. "Commander Shepard! It's been what…carry the five…more than six Earth months since we last saw each other."

From the light blue scales, to the exposed teeth, Shepard recognized her, "Professor Pyth."

Williams looked to Shepard, uncertain, "You know this…thing?"

"She's one of the Mandalorians."

"More accurately speaking, I work alongside them as an individual who comes from the same galaxy." Pyth was now trying to find a way to their level as C3 was now rolling right behind her. "This astromech is more of a Mandalorian than I."

"What happened to you?"

Pyth jumped down, "There are advantages to being a telepath and few knowing about it. When I started to hear the silencing of several of the scientists and security staff, I reached out to try and find you. That's when I heard these…people trying to ambush me."

Shepard picked up on Pyth's concerns, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not entirely certain. There's just something off with them. Call it intuition."

Williams looked back up to the door, "We're trying to get to the Archives, would that lead us to it?"

"I'm afraid not. That only leads to the east wing. We need to go north, through security, maybe outside for a bit if these intruders have locked down certain paths. Then we should have a clear shot to the trams."

Liara quickly reminded Pyth, "If Cerberus hasn't already locked them down as well."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the Citadel, Araniik was busy ensuring Aria maintains her control over the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse gangs. Working with Narl, he prepended to be an offering to the vorcha leader Kreete, instead Narl signaled Aran to execute Kreete and his cohort so that his successor, Gryll, could take control and fell in line to Aria's commands. The Eclipse was far easier, Aran convinced Sayn, Jona Sederis' yes salarian and second-in-command, to eliminate Sederis upon her release from C-Sec custody and be the big cheese. He was working on the Blue Suns problem when news about Earth hit the Citadel.

Returning to Purgatory, a bar within the massive station, one of the stations immigration officers was questioning Aria, "So you admit you and your thugs are here illegally."

Aria, relaxing on a couch, just like she once did on Omega, lazily looked to the officer, "Yes. And it only took C-Sec three weeks to figure it out."

"I don't care who you are—you're required to go through processing like all other refugees. Come with me."

"I don't think so." The woman had no idea who she was dealing with. Aria turned to her left, "Nyona, get me Councilor Tevos."

"You could say please a bit more often here."

Her Mandalorian bodyguard activated her omni-tool as a life-size hologram of Councilor Tevos appeared, "_Greetings, Aria. Is there something you need?_"

"I'm being asked to submit to immigration processing."

"_Of course you are._" Councilor Tevos worked on a console in her office, "_Done. What else can I do for you?_" The immigration officer was shocked to see a Councilor bend over backwards for her, a lowlife criminal in her opinion.

"Nothing, thank you," turning back to the officer.

"_My pleasure._"

Nyona cut the channel as Aria smiled, "I think we're done here." The immigration officer stomped out of Purgatory in a rage as Aran walked over now. "What is it, Mandalore? You still haven't finished dealing with Vosque."

"I need to talk to you about what's happening on Earth."

"The Reapers." Aria signaled Aran to take a seat. "I'm aware of them. That's why I need you to secure my control over these gangs."

"Cause the rank and file won't do the despicable things they're willing to do."

"Exactly. And if you can secure my control over the Suns, I can give them all to Shepard. He will be the tip of this spear no matter how you view it. Now was there something else?"

Aran got back up, "I guess not."

"One more thing. Remember to have all of your people ready. I've almost got everything I need to retake my station from Cerberus."

Before leaving the night club, Aran stopped to speak with Nyona, "How has she been?"

Nyona turned back for a moment, "Other than that 'thank you', the same rotted hateful bitch we all know."

"I can hear you, Nyona."

Nyona yelled back, "Never said I was trying to be discreet about it." Nyona turned back to Aran, "So, any work from the others?"

Aran looked down, "None. And I'm starting to get worried. We're getting intel that the quarians are amassing their fleet near geth space, Kix and Palva were with the turian forces when the Reapers hit Palaven. Bev's been sending regular messages and we have nothing to really worry about with Vren and the two plate brain _vode_."

"So just playing everything by ear, huh?"

"Yeah. And I'm really not liking it."

* * *

After working their way outside, Shepard and company found the cafeteria's external doors opened and the staff inside dead from suffocation. With another Cerberus squad dealt with, Pyth couldn't help but look back at some of the bodies. Ashley saw her, "Did you know any of these people, Professor?"

"I recognize a few, mostly from listening to their thoughts," Pyth knelt down to a pair who were still holding hands, "These two were going to be parents. She was planning to tell him at their anniversary dinner tonight. I know many of them did not trust either of us, me more so because of my secrecy."

Liara turned to Pyth, "It couldn't have been helped. You're…unique to say the least and your translations of the Prothean language were astounding, you worked it all out using our own understanding of other alien languages. We needed you."

Ashley still couldn't get over all of the lives lost, "I'm still not clear on what you guys discovered."

Liara looked back as she walked over to pressurize the room, "Bits and pieces, really. Clues. It took them centuries to conquer the Protheans. In that time, the few Prothean survivors searched desperately for a way to stop the Reapers. If our translations are correct, they found a way, but in the end, they didn't have the resources to follow through with their plan." With everyone out of the cafeteria the door locked and emergency shielding covered the windows as air started to vent into the area. "There we go. We have access to the labs. They'll take us right up to the tram station."

C3 had dialed herself into a terminal as she started to beep eccentrically. "Hey Professor, what's wrong with your mech?"

Pyth looked her head down to her level. "Slow down please, I'm still haven't mastered droidspeak." C3 tried to slow herself down to Pyth's level of understanding. "Oh my…" Pyth turned to Liara, "We should see this."

The three overhead monitor all started playing security footage from this room with two Alliance soldiers. "_Security station…come in? We're seeing some odd activity down here. Our security protocols just kicked in. Everything's locked down._" Dr. Eva Coré walked into the scene "_Doctor, I'll get you a report as soon as…_" She opened fire on the two, killing them both. The camera was knocked over from the dead soldier as the doctor started to work on a nearby console to override security and open the airlock in the cafeteria.

"I guess we know how Cerberus got in."

As Shepard continued through one of the nearby consoles, Liara leaned against the desk, "I should've realized it when I met her. I was just so focused on finding a way to stop the Reapers."

Shepard grabbed her by the shoulder, "Stopping the Reapers is the only thing we should be focused on. It's not your fault."

"No. It's mine…" Pyth was leaning herself against the wall.

"What?"

"This, this is all my fault. I could have stopped all of this." Pyth looked to Liara before she looked back to the image of Eva Coré, "I couldn't hear a single thought from her, yet I could hear everyone else's. I was so excited about working on the Archives I completely ignored all of my instincts about her." C3 started to whistle at her. "Well, no. At least I don't think so."

Shepard looked down to C3, "What'd she just ask?"

"C3 suggested that she might have a means to hide her thoughts. The only individuals I could think of who I couldn't hear would be from a Jedi, probably a Sith, certain neural implants, some cyborgs…droids…" Pyth quickly turned back to the droid, "C3, are you implying that she…"

C3 started shaking as she moved away from the terminal jack. "Ok, that's really starting to get annoying."

"Well unfortunately that's the only means for an astromech droid to communicate." Pyth looked back to the doctor's image on the screen, "And she said that she had detected several bursts transmissions of unknown origin before we were 'ambushed'."

Ashley reloaded her assault rifle, "Then we help remedy that by kicking every Cerberus bastard off this station."

* * *

Aran found out from Darner Vosque that his Blue Suns raids on C-Sec weapon shipments has recently been harassed by a retired turian general, Septimus Oraka, and wants him killed. Instead, Aran decided to find and speak with the general personally.

"Mandalore the Cunning."

"You're Septimus Oraka?"

"Reinstated."

Aran looked around, "Word has it that you're taking on the Blue Suns."

Oraka waved Aran to sit next to him on the bench, "I need to do my part for the Citadel, Mandalore. The Blue Suns are raiding C-Sec weapons shipments. I'm putting a stop to that. Those mercs are seriously jeopardizing the Citadel's ability to defend itself if the war comes here," Oraka corrected himself, "When the war comes here."

Aran turned to the view of the Presidium, "You know there are other ways to secure weapons, General."

Oraka sat up, "You don't think I've tried?" Oraka then pointed off to his right, "There's a black market dealer on the Presidium right now, but he won't sell his top-line arms. The Reapers are destroying everything in their path, and I can't stop them…but I can stop the Blue Suns."

Aran got off the bench, "General, you do know that I'm a Spectre, but I've also had my fair share of dealing with the Suns."

"Yes, the exploits of the Mandalorians reaches even these old ears."

"Then I'm going to come clean with you sir. Aria T'Loak is attempting to reunite the Suns, Pack and Elcipse in an effort to help fight the Reapers. Now the leader of the Suns wants you dead, but Aria has allowed me to find an alternate means to stopping your complaints."

Oraka started to chuckle, "It's good to hear that I still have my old touch. And I appreciate you coming clean about the truth. But what would you have me do? I won't let C-Sec be undermined like this."

Aran looked over to where Oraka pointed earlier, "Don't worry General, I'll 'negotiate' the deal personally. C-Sec will get their new supply line in no time."

"I'd appreciate your help, and I'll have a plan of action ready if things fall through."

As Aran walked around the Presidium Markets, he had Prath look for any kind of irregularities to help narrow his search. "_Mandalore, Cipritine Armory has recently sent a shipment of weapons to their Citadel location at the Meridian Place, however the available products don't seem to be matching this list._"

"Thanks for the directions. These dealers are usually cowards. It shouldn't take much to convince him."

Arriving at Cipritine Armory Aran found two salarian clerks working the stand. Aran could already spot the black marketer between the two and walked up to him. "Mandalore, what a pleasant surprise. So I'm assuming you're here to peruse through my wares?"

Aran glanced over all weapons on display, "These are all light weights. Where're the real weapons?"

The salarian took a step back, "Shit, you slumming for C-Sec, too? I already got harassed by the old turian with the bad attitude. Yeah, I got much better stuff, but it's off the market. Galaxy's going belly-up—credit won't mean anything once the Reapers rip through."

"So your plan is to hoard these weapons and hope you can survive?" Aran scoffed.

"No. Whatever happens, I figure there'll be survivors—but it'll be chaos. I'm betting things will run on a barter system. So, I'm getting a jump. My best stock only trades for hard goods and artifacts with real value."

Aran started to shake his head, "Really? This is why you aren't selling to C-Sec?" Aran grabbed the salarian by his shirt's collar, "You listen to me salarian, if the Reapers win, there will be no survivors. Every race that has ever been on the Citadel will become extinct." Aran released him to activate his omni-tool and display a map of the galaxy, "See all of these red areas?" over a third of the galaxy was highlighted red. "These are all of the clusters the Reapers have taken over. Not invaded or under attack but outright decimated and under their complete control. We need everyone to work together, the asari, humans, turians, salarians, elcor, krogans, hell I'll even take the geth if they're willing to fight the Reapers. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let some piss-ant salarian prevent us from being able to defend ourselves when this war hits the Citadel. And you can bet your life the war will come to the Citadel. So if I were you, I'd worry more about ensuring our survival against the Reapers rather than your petty trade plans if the credit goes belly-up."

The salarian looked down as he eyes rapidly started to move around. "I…I…I'll work out a deal with C-Sec. Gift them my best weapons or something."

"Good to hear. I'll let you and C-Sec hammer out the details." Aran left the salarian and returned to Oraka. "General, the salarian's playing ball. C-Sec should be getting its first shipments soon once all the details are squared away."

"I had always assumed the tale about the Mandalorians always fulfilling their contract to be an exaggeration. Now I see they weren't."

* * *

**A/N: **I always felt we shouldn't have indulged the greedy salarian in his petty trade deal. I wished they had given us a persuade dialogue choice instead having to search for a stupid trincket of no value.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

beskad(BESS-kahd)- slightly curved saber of Mandalorian iron

vode(vohd-ay)- brothers


	4. War on all fronts

**A/N: **Well December 21 should be interesting.

* * *

After cutting through the labs and working around an automated defense turret and removing the Cerberus defenders, Shepard shut down the turret and pulled up security footage of Dr. Eva Coré and several Cerberus troops. "_Set up a perimeter. No one else comes across._"

"_We still have teams on the other side…_"

Coré stopped the trooper, "_No one! And shut down those cameras!_"

"Looks like they've made it to the Archives."

Ashley looked to the empty tram station below, "And it looks like they won't be sending a tram anytime soon."

Shepard looked at C3, "Can we override it?"

C3 started to hum with very disappointing tones. "C3 states that the Archives are on a network of its own, separate from the rest of the facility. Unless we can fly or jump super far they're untouchable."

"Not completely." Williams walked around, "What if we could find a short-range transmitter—helmet-to-helmet?"

"And?"

"And then we convince them that we're with them and the Alliance forces have been taken care of."

Shepard nodded, "Good idea. See what you can find."

As Ashley walked out the other doors, Pyth joined her, "Hold on, I'll help."

Liara was looking back to Shepard with a smile while she tried to do something from the terminal controls. Shepard noticed Liara looking, "What?"

Liara turned back to the console, "The lieutenant-commander has become very…capable."

"That she has."

Before the two could talk Williams called out, "Shepard! We found something."

Shepard found Pyth and Ashley looking over a Cerberus Centurion propped against a crate. "What've you got?"

Ashley was trying to open the Centurion's helmet, "He's got a transmitter in his helmet. If I can…" Pyth popped open the mask revealing the man underneath the armor had heavy cybernetic augments just on his face alone, "Oh, god." Ashley stepped back, "He looks like a husk."

Pyth started to examine him more closely, "Almost… Unlike actual Reaper husks these soldiers had some cognitive capabilities and thoughts of their own. Something I could never detect from a husk. Curious though, the technology in these cybernetics do seem to be Reaper-based."

Ashley was still sick, "Engineered? By Cerberus? They claim to stand for humanity, and they do this to their own people." Ashley finally turned to the Commander, "That could've been you, Shepard. For all I knew, that's what Cerberus had done to you."

"How can you compare me to that thing?"

"I don't know what you are…not since they got their hands on you." Ashley took a few steps away as Pyth continued to remain silent on the personal subject, "Is it really you in there? Do you even know? I mean, could they be controlling you?"

"Ash…"

Ashley turned back to Shepard, "I'm just talking out loud. I don't need you to answer. I doubt there's anything you could say to convince me. I guess I just need some time to get to know you again."

Shepard placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'm still the same person I always was. Time won't change that, but if that's what you need, I understand."

"Thanks…for understanding."

"You bet."

Pyth was able to find the comlink and pulled it from the suit. "Well we should work on getting one of the trams sent over. And since we haven't seen any female combatants, it'd be more convincing if you did this part, Commander."

Shepard took the comlink and started to speak to it, "Hello. This is Delta Team. Anybody there?"

"_Where the hell have you been? Never mind. What's your status?_"

"We're at the tram station, waiting for extraction. All hostiles terminated."

"_Roger that. Echo Team will ride over and secure the station._"

Shepard deactivated the comlink and tossed it aside as Williams moved to his side, "Think they bought it?"

"If they didn't, they'll figure it out soon enough."

* * *

As Aran continued through the Presidium he couldn't help but over hear a salarian businessman and his turian partner were in the middle of a heated argument, "If we switch from financial VIs to military grade gear, we'll lose millions."

"Who cares about the money! Haven't you heard the news from Palaven?"

"That's what your army is for. Nothing's going to reach the Citadel."

"We need to start manufacturing military tech. Nobody will need banking software if these Reapers win."

"The market for military goods barely carries a profit. Who do you propose as our buyer?"

"The Council, the Empire, maybe the Alliance. Even if we don't make much now, they'll remember us when the war's over."

Aran shook his head, "Another greedy _utreekov_." He walked up to the two, "Palaven is burning and you're worried about selling financial VIs? Those fires aren't going out anytime soon. We need all the help we can conceive."

The turian nodded to Aran before turning to his partner, "Look, Siress, you want to sell your shares and walk, fine, but I'm not selling financial VIs while my homeworld burns."

"Okay, okay. Let me think." Siress paused as he looked around, "We could…repurpose the VIs for upgraded targeting solutions."

"Right. We'd be able to use most of the hardware. The financial VI has more processing power than we need…"

"No, no, that works!" Siress got a rolling idea now, "We'll rig the VI, and it translates for all standard weapons. Refit weapons without having to overhaul your targeting computer! Rapid-response flexibility! We'll make a fortune!"

The turian slowed him down, "A small fortune. We're selling these at cost plus three percent."

"Fine."

"And I can help even further." Aran activated his omni-tool to send them data, "Elkoss Combine has a line of Mandalorian weapons that could use them for those with little experience with them. Rupe Elkoss is also just up ahead," pointing his finger to a volus and human woman looking at the ads. "I can also convince the Council to offer a deal for C-Sec personnel and the fleet. May the Force be with us all so we can see the end of this war alive."

As Aran walked away from the two he got a call from Prath, "_Mandalore, we've received disturbing reports from the Alliance. They are requesting our assistance in the matter._"

"Alright, get going. I'll remain here and pick up any other missions the Council or anyone else might request from us and send them to you."

* * *

The _Tervho_ was sent to a distressed human colony on the planet Benning. Aay'han was on the shuttle giving a brief rundown of the situation, "Mandalorians, reports have come in that Cerberus forces are on the planet to recruit people however it seemed they were actually abducting the civilians. When Alliance forces were trying to confirm this, Cerberus opened fire on the civilians."

"Opening fire on civilians, human civilians? That doesn't sound like Cerberus' MO. There has to be more to it. A rouge faction maybe?"

"Whatever is going on Sal, we're here to help secure the area and establish an evac point for the civilians."

Yahiya leaned against the shuttle door, "So the old tried and true then, shot anything that's Cerberus."

"If that's how Mandalore has been running things before we arrived."

Carmine turned back to the team, "OK boys and girls, we're almost at the drop zone. And I'm picking up thousands of SOSs, bulk of 'em are on the upper street. It looks like Cerberus has 'em pinned."

Aay'han stood next to the door that was about to open, "Alright people you heard the man, _tsikado besbe'trayce_!" Aay'han jumped out first as four other Mandalorians armed with weapons from the _Shaadlar_ troopship. With boots on the ground the shuttle fell back to monitor the situation from above.

Sal, Niki and Yahiya took to the buildings to the west as Aay'han and Tishad moved into the buildings to the east. As Aay'han and Tishad were slowly moving through the building, Aay'han swapped over to the private comm. channels, "I hope you're as good with that ripper as you are with infiltration."

"Don't worry about me, let's just hope we can help these colonists."

"Mandalore's right, you do have a soft sport."

Tishad stopped, "Look…"

Aay'han's periscopic rangefinder lowered to scan the area. "Damn it. Those turrets are ripping the colonists to shreds. We've got to move!"

* * *

After taking over the tram and reaching the Archives, Shepard and team pushed through Cerberus forces as they moved to secure the Archives. As Williams started to check the surroundings, C3 started picking up an unusual signal and started to track it as Liara, Pyth and Shepard moved to the Archives themselves. Pyth stopped however to examining a hologram of the Archives she didn't recognize. Both Liara and Shepard removed their helmets as Liara started to access the Archives. When she did however the hologram Pyth was examining started to change before her. A hologram of an older human appeared in a black suit with a cigarette in hand. "_Shepard._"

Liara quickly turned around and had her pistol trained on the hologram, "Illusive Man?"

Pyth backed away as the Illusive Man looked to the Archives, "_Fascinating race, the Protheans. They left all this for us to discover, but we've squandered it. The Alliance has known about the Archives for more than thirty years, and what have they done with it?_"

Shepard however wasn't in the mood for his games, "What do you want?"

The Illusive Man simply looked up to the actual structure, "_What I've always wanted. The data in these artifacts holds the key to solving the Reaper threat._"

Shepard almost laughed, "I've seen your solution—your people are turned into monsters."

The Illusive Man slowly looked to Shepard, "_Hardly. They're being improved._"

"Improved?"

"_That's what separates us, Shepard; where you see a means to destroy, I see a way to control—to dominate and harness the Reapers' power. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them._"

"Earth is under siege, and you're hatching a scheme to control the Reapers?"

"_You've always been shortsighted. Hasty._" The hologram changed to the Collector base, "_Your destruction of the Collector base proved that._"

"That base was an abomination. Hundreds of thousands of humans were murdered there."

The hologram turned back to the Illusive Man, "_This isn't your fight any longer, Shepard. You can't defeat the Reapers, even with the Prothean data._"

Shepard has seen the few shreds of humanity the Illusive Man has, and he knew the Illusive Man wasn't lost to reason, yet, "Work with me. Give me control of your resources, and I'll stop them."

"_You'd do better than most, but the odds aren't in your favor. More importantly, I don't want the Reapers destroyed. We can dominate them, use their power, harness their very essence to bring humanity to the apex of evolution._"

"You've gone too far. The Reapers will kill us all if we don't stop fighting each other!"

"_I don't expect you to understand, Shepard. And I'm certainly not looking for your approval,_" quoting Shepard as he once told him, "_You were a tool, an agent with a singular purpose. And despite our differences, you were relatively successful. But like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over._"

"Enough talk. Liara." Liara started to work on the console to the Archives.

"_Don't interfere with my plans, Shepard. I won't warn you again._"

"Duly noted."

Liara however found, or rather lack of, something, "Shepard!"

"What?" turning back to her.

"The data. It's not here. It's being erased."

The Illusive Man's smirked as his hologram disappeared, "_Goodbye, Shepard._"

"Damn it. How's he doing it?"

Liara was following the data, "It's local. Someone's uploading the information."

Pyth looked around, "C3, jam all transmissions trying to leave this planet! Don't let the data escape!" C3 confirmed as she isolated herself to ensure the signal wouldn't stop.

Ashley thought she heard something and slowly moved to check it out. She found Dr. Eva Coré on a console, "Hey! Step away from the console. Now!" Dr. Coré took Ashley by surprise, knocking her down and smashing the console she used to transfer the data and disabled the Archives. She quickly ran off, "She's got the data!"

Shepard and Liara quickly donned their helmet and breathing mask respectfully, "She's faster than she looks."

"Stay close! We can't lose her." The team was now chasing Dr. Coré she had locked herself inside the security checkpoint. As Shepard opened it Dr. Coré launched a tech attack before jumping up into the ventilation system.

"C3 keep up!" Shepard lowered the glass as Dr. Coré jumped back down and ran to a nearby ladder.

Pyth was now running past Shepard, "We can't let that data get away!" Once outside Pyth noticed Dr. Coré had no type of atmospheric protection for herself. However Dr. Coré opened fire on her, "Commander, be careful!"

As the chase continued a Cerberus shuttle dropped by as two Cerberus troopers tried to slow them down. Ashley used her sniper rifle to kill one while Liara used her biotics to fling him out of the ship before the shuttle pulled away.

As they ran down a ramp Shepard called out to their backup, "James? You read me?" Unfortunately the signal was all garbled up due to the coming storm. Shepard took cover from another tech attack from Dr. Coré as he tried again, "Cerberus has the data. Radio the _Normandy_. Get them down here now!" Dr. Coré climbed to the room as another Cerberus shuttle arrived, "She's getting away." She was too fast for Shepard as she entered the shuttle, "Damn it! James? _Normandy_? Anybody?"

"_I've got this one!_" An Alliance shuttle flew in, knocking the Cerberus shuttle back down, however it also endangered the team on the ground as well. Everyone dove for cover as the Cerberus shuttle crashed back down, turning to a burning pile of scrap. C3 had yet to 'climb' up the stairs and fortunately for everyone else they seemed fine. Shepard waved down the Alliance shuttle as Ashley helped Liara. The shuttle made a four point landing as James walked out shaking himself off from the midair collision, "_Normandy_'s en route. They'll be here soon."

Pyth and C3 walked over to the shuttle, "That is fortunate, seeing as how I believe this shuttle has seen it final usage."

Ashley was helping Liara walk over to the shuttle, "We need that data." However the Cerberus shuttle wasn't as dead as everyone believed. There were two loud bangs that made Ashley and Liara pause before what was left of the shuttle door was knocked off.

From the fires came Dr. Coré's metal body, charred but still functioning. Williams pushed Liara aside as she tried to stop it. The android was rather resilient as it shrugged off the shots and grabbed her by her helmet. Shepard and Pyth ran to the other side of the shuttle, "Ash!" Shepard drew a pistol on the android, "Let her go!"

However the synthetic didn't seem all that worried. Instead, it established a secure link to someone, "Orders?"

"C3?" Pyth looked back to their astromech as she was unable to stop the incoming transmission, unable to jam quantum entanglement signals.

The android turned away with Williams still in hand, "No!" then the android slammed Williams against the remains of the shuttle, twice, before dropping her.

Pyth moved forward with the _beskad_ in hand and lowering Shepard's pistol, "This is my means of atonement for her transgressions." Pyth slowly walked forward as she pulled the sword out with her left hand and Dr. Coré ran toward her. Pyth now sprinted too as she slashed at the android's left arm, pulling back and cutting open the abdominal region with a final slice at its left leg. The android fell to the ground as the arm and leg were separated but it continued to crawl toward Shepard. Pyth fell back to one knee as she twirled the _beskad_ before finally sinking the sword into what would have anatomically been the back of Coré's heart and twisting the sword ninety degrees, holding the blade down until she heard the thud of the android falling to the ground. Pyth pulled the sword out of the disabled android and sheathed it, "Penance has been paid."

Shepard ran past Pyth to William's side, "Grab that thing. Bring it with us."

The Normandy quickly hailed the team, "_Shepard. We've got Reaper signatures in orbit._"

"Ash. Come on, Ash. I'm getting you out of here." Shepard carefully picked her up. James was carrying the disabled android over his shoulder as C3 dragged the arm and leg while Pyth helped Liara into the _Normandy_. With everyone aboard the _Normandy_ left the planet as Reaper forces started to invade in force.

Shepard went straight to the med bay and laid her down gently while James dumped the android off onto a table. C3 was concerned as she and Pyth could only watch. Liara walked over to Shepard who was stuck watching over an unconscious Williams. "Ashley needs medical attention." Shepard seemed unresponsive. "We have to leave the Sol system."

"I know."

"The Citadel is our best chance. We can find help there."

Shepard looked up to one of the ship's speakers, "Get us to the Citadel, Joker."

"_Roger that._"

Shepard looked back to Williams, grabbing her arm, "Hold on, Ash." Shepard turned back to C3, "See what you and EDI can learn from that thing."

EDI came on the comm. "_Commander, I'm receiving a signal over the secondary QEC. I believe it's Admiral Hackett._"

Shepard left the med bay, "Patch me through."

As Shepard and Liara left the med bay James looked to the unmasked Pyth as she helped C3 move the damaged android to the ship's AI core. "So…uh…"

Pyth dropped the arm and turned to face James, "Ah, right. Well allow me to give a proper introduction. I'm a Draethos and my name is Silis Pyth, professor of sentientology and xenolinguistics at the University of Sanbra. And this astromech droid is borrowed from the Mandalorians, R4-C3, or C3 for short." C3 continued to drag the android as she whistled her hellos. "That reminds me, I should be greeting the rest of the humans if I am to work with the _Normandy_'s Alliance crew." The scrapping of the android however snapped her out of her little monologue, "Ah but I will help finish moving the body first then I should attend to Miss Williams. I've noticed that human anatomy hasn't changed since my studies at Sandra. This should be interesting."

* * *

**A/N: **That was well and truly owed to the robo-doc.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

utreekov(oo-TREE-kov)- fool, idiot (lit. emptyhead)

tsikado besbe'trayce(zee-KAH-do BES-beh-TRAYSH-ay)- ready weapons

beskad(BESS-kahd)- slightly curved saber of Mandalorian iron


	5. Political Dance

**A/N: **Well December 21 has come and gone with no ill effects to Earth or humanity. Feel sorry for all of the people who partied hardy and expected the end of the world. I've noticed people for some reason follow my stories that I finish. That just makes no sense to me, seeing as how(beyond the few extra chapters for this story's prior) I don't usual go back other then to correct a few things here and there when I find them.

* * *

With the _Normandy_ docked with the Citadel, Pyth franticly listened out to find any Mandalorian on the massive space station. There were so many minds, it was hard to listen to them all. She forced herself to listen to the furthest she could hear a thoughts, a 500 meter radius but still nothing. C3 then nudged her, stating that she had made contact with Mandalore. Pyth activated her comlink, "Ah, Mandalore, thank the spirits. Given the thoughts you have about Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams I thought you should know. She was injured while on Mars by a Cerberus android."

"_Ash…How bad is it?_"

"I did everything I could, medically speaking, but she's still critical. Massive head trauma. Medics from Huerta Memorial Hospital took her a few moments ago."

"_Alright, I'll go now!_"

* * *

Aran arrived to Huerta Memorial just as the medics were rolling her in. Aran stayed with her as long as he could when Shepard arrived. "Commander…"

"Mandalore." Shepard turned to the unconscious Williams, "You got pretty banged up there, Williams. Had me worried. I just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing." Aran remained quiet as Shepard continued, "Despite all this, it's good seeing you again, Ash. Get some rest, okay? I'll come by when you're feeling better. We'll talk." One of the doctors walked in on the two signaling that they need to work.

Aran grabbed the doctor's shoulder, "If there's anything we can do to help her, contact us. You understand?"

Shepard and Aran watched quietly as the doors closed, "I'll see you soon."

Aran slammed his fist into his palm, "Damn it! I should have been there!"

"And I should have been faster on the draw. We can't do anything for her now. We need to start focusing on trying to stop the Reapers."

Aran started to shake his head, "All come down to politics…"

* * *

"We've got our own problems, Councilor. Earth is not in this alone."

Udina turned to Sparatus, "But Earth was the first Council world hit. By all reports, it faces the brunt of the attack."

Valern quickly interjected, "By your reports…"

Shepard matched in before the bickering could get worse, "The reports are accurate. Earth was attacked—by the Reapers. And it's just the beginning. We need your help. Everything you can spare."

Tevos looked to Shepard, "Each of us faces a similar situation. Even now, the Reapers are pressing on our borders. If we lend you our strength to help Earth, our own worlds will fall."

Udina wasn't willing to stand with this stonewalling. "We must fight this enemy together!"

Valern quickly yelled, "And so we should just follow you to Earth?"

Sparatus stopped Valern before the salarian popped a blood vessel, "Even if we were to unite our fleets, do you really believe we could defeat the Reapers?"

Shepard understood the hesitation. "I don't expect you to follow me without a plan," turning to Liara, Pyth and C3 beside him.

Liara nodded, "Councilors…we have that plan." C3 tilted herself as her holoprojector displayed the plans, "A blueprint. Created by the Protheans during their war with the Reapers."

Sparatus paused at the unusual design, "A blueprint for what?"

Pyth answered, "Unfortunately we are still translating many of the pieces, but if our understanding is correct then it would be for a weapon of sorts."

"Capable of destroying the Reapers?" Valern hesitantly asked.

"So it would seem."

Valern quickly calculated the design in his mind, "The scale is…it would be a colossal undertaking."

"No. I forwarded the plans to Admiral Hackett. The remnants of the human fleet are already gathering resources to begin construction."

Liara quickly added to Shepard's statement, "Our initial calculations suggest it is very feasible to build."

"If we work together…"

"Have you considered that the Reapers destroyed the Protheans? What good did this weapon do?" Tevos pointing out the possible failure of the weapon.

Liara quickly countered, "It was incomplete. There was a missing component. Here. Something referred to only as the Catalyst. But they ran out of time before they could finish building it."

Sparatus turned to Shepard, "Do you really believe this can stop the Reapers?"

Shepard looked to the two scientists, "Liara and Pyth believe it can word, and so do I. And while I haven't always agreed with Udina, he's right about this…we need to stand together. Now more than ever. The Reapers won't stop at Earth. They'll destroy every organic being in the galaxy if we don't find a way to stop them."

Tevos looked to Valern, who quickly shook his head, before she addressed Shepard, "The cruel and unfortunate truth is that while the Reapers focus on Earth, we can prepare and regroup."

Udina was obviously upset as Valern added, "We are convening a summit amongst our species. If we can manage to secure our own borders, we may once again consider aiding you."

"I'm sorry, Commander. That is the best we can do." Tevos adjured the meeting as she and Valern quickly left.

Sparatus slowly left before Udina, as the human Councilor looked to the Commander, "Shepard. Meet me in my office."

* * *

As the Councilors left, Aran was waiting for Sparatus behind one of the pillars. "You know he's right. Right now Tevos and Valern are trying to fight this as if it was the Rachni Wars or Krogan Rebellions."

Sparatus stopped. "I know. That's why I'm going to help Shepard."

"I know how you like to gauge people, but right now we can't afford to do all of this side stepping crap called politics. We need a plan, and that weapon is the only one I can see where we have a chance of surviving."

Sparatus signaled Aran to walk with him for a bit, "It is the job of politicians to keep some form of normality for our people during times of crisis."

"And unfortunately for everyone else this crisis will affect them soon enough."

"Which is why we have to put faith into Shepard and our military leaders who will be participating at the war summit. I know we haven't always been on good terms with one another Mandalore, but I want you to know I'm glad that your people are out there helping right now."

* * *

In a surprise attack Tishad jumped onto another Cerberus soldier, ramming a knife into his neck and throwing another out at a Cerberus trooper behind Aay'han. Aay'han shot the head off a Cerberus troop behind Tishad before kicking another soldier down and shooting him point blank on the ground. "Go!"

The two civilians were now moving closer to the drop zone where Yahiya and Sal were holding their position from more Cerberus forces. "Get down!" Sal appeared stopping the two from stepping on a grenade as it was about to go off. "Niki we need a little more cover fire over here!"

Pulling out a second Mandalorian Heavy Blaster out, she cut through an Engineer and a Centurion trying to move up. "How's that for suppressing fire?"

"You're clear Sal. Move 'em up!" Yahiya kept the choke point clear for Sal and the civilians as they kept their head down.

Aay'han and Tishad were falling back now, as they let Yahiya and Niki fall back to Sal's position. "Carmine, _utrel'a_! A _jurkad viinir_ would be nice right about now."

"_Cinarin!_" The Mandalorian shuttle, now adorned with a _jai'galaar_ face on the front, started to bomb the streets. Aay'han and Tishad had just enough time to jump down to the lower street just before Carmine carpeted the area with shelling. Carmine swung the shuttle around as another evac shuttle arrived.

Aay'han helped to two in before loading himself onto the Mandalorian shuttle. "_Cerberus has been routed and the Alliance will get here as soon as possible to keep it secured._" Aay'han however wasn't listening to Prath as he held onto a dog tag from a dead Alliance soldier they found.

* * *

"Cerberus attempted to secure 'recruits' on the planet Benning, but thankfully with Mandalorian intervention their plans have been foiled. Mandalorian forces remained planet side until Alliance force came to secure the evacuation centers. I will have interviews with the brave Mandalorians who fought on the ground next. This is Emily Wong reporting for FCC News on the _Tervho_."

With the camera turned off, Aay'han walked in, "I see now why Mandalore and the others like you. No BS and true to the point."

Emily however didn't seem so thrilled. "I'm sorry I have some other thoughts going through my head right now," taking a seat in her room.

"Your luck that the General and Pyth are a way right now. One of them might confront you about your thoughts. But since I'm here I'm sure you want to talk about them."

Emily looked to Aay'han, "Mandalore saved my life. Not in the 'damsel in distress' kind of way, but I mean…if I didn't accept his offer to work with his crew I would have been on Earth when the Reapers invaded."

Aay'han has seen that face on a few of his troopers before. He knew how to approach the situation, "How do you know that?"

Emily activated her omni-tool and brought up some news feeds, "FCC News was doing a special about quantum entanglement communicators at UCLA. I would have jumped at the chance to report on Earth. Instead, Melisa Hearthorn did the report. She's dead because I didn't go…"

Aay'han then gripped his hand on her shoulder, "Then prove that her sacrifice will mean something." He waited for Emily to look to him before continuing, "Do everything you can to keep galactic moral as high as possible. Don't back down from the tough issues, and never let anyone forget what the Reapers are doing to the galaxy. With people like you fighting in the editing room alongside this crew, then we'll defiantly win this war."

"How can you be so certain? Three years ago I watched _Sovereign_ take on the Alliance and Citadel fleets like they were nothing."

"I watched those vids too. And you know what I saw? I saw brothers, bonded by the fires of battle and death. I saw arrogance in that oversized droid. And in the end, _Sovereign_ was destroyed. The Council tried to soothe the galaxy with a fairy tale ending, but now that's come to bit them in the ass, hard. As much as we something wish we could reverse time, change events, we can't. So instead we have to push forward." Aay'han looked to the camera making sure it wasn't recording. "I used to go by another name. Dag. But the day I thought we had lost Mandalore's team three years ago, I grieved. Eventually I even changed my name. Aay'han has a meaning in Mandalorian. It's to remember and celebrate your time with those deceased. The name seems redundant now that I'm with them again. But there are still those I have to remember. And they will forever live on through me."

Emily wiped the tear from her eye, "Thank you. And I'll do a special segment just for Melisa and her parents."

"Good. Now let's get you a few of those interviews."

* * *

As Pyth was leaving the Embassies to return to the _Normandy_, James caught up to her in the elevator. "Yo Professor, mind if we chat?"

"Not at all. I find speaking with others sometimes helps calm nerves. Though if I start rambling in your mind then please forgive me."

"Rambling in my mind?"

"That's right, no one beyond the Mandalorians knows. Well my species has the capability to telepathically communicate with others."

"That sounds useful."

Pyth continued to gaze upon the Citadel's elegant design, "Hardly. Hearing the thoughts of others within a five hundred meter radius can…overwhelm an individual when one first leaves homes where we learn to quiet our thoughts from others."

"Ow. Sounds rough. But about that thing you did with the sword on Mars…"

Pyth looked down to her belt, forgetting that the _beskad_ was left on the _Normandy_, "Please that? Among my people that was child's plays. Truthfully I wasn't exactly top of my clan's youth. Which was embarrassing considering the clan was known to produce the best swordsmen on the continent. Now if this is about wanting to learn any of those techniques, unfortunately most of that was muscle reflexes rather than actual conscious movements." Pyth started to muse, "A hundred years since I actually picked up a sword for a fight, feels like thirty."

James jumped back, "A hundred years? How old are you?"

"Now Mr. Vega, I thought you humans had a custom of never asking females their age?" James was looking at her funny now trying to see how she was a she, "But then again I suppose it only applies to females of your species. If you really are curious, I'll be three-hundred-thirty-five in about ninety days. Transitioning from a nineteen-hour day cycle to twenty-four is rather bothersome. Especially for these types of calculations."

"So what, your childhood was a hundred years ago?"

"Oh no. Despite our natural expectancy of eight hundred years, our adolescence actually ends eighteen years after our hatch day. At four hundred we're middle aged and at seven hundred were considered elders. So as you can expect nothing really changes that quickly on my home."

* * *

Within the Migrant Fleet, onboard the _Rayya_, Prudii was looking out at the rest of the fleet, "This is stupid…"

"Yeah I know. I told Gerrel they need armor plating too. But I guess Silaris armor is outside of their budget. I mean they could at least spare something for the latest ablative armor plating from Elkoss."

Prudii didn't even bother to respond to Rang before he walked away as he tried to find Rasen or Tali. Many of the quarians were busy as they were integrating the new cannons to the old systems of the ships' and reworking the power distribution of key systems.

Prudii found his way away from the crowds where he started to hear the sounds of welding. He followed it until he saw the sparks and started to hear voices. "Well it's not exactly how Sigma Squad did it, but I think it should do." He found Rasen as she picked up a mask to display for Tali.

"I think it's perfect," Prudii walked over to the two as he looked at the new mask. Armor plating covered a majority of the visor's surface area, leaving just enough for eyes, almost in a reverse fashion of the Mandalorian's famous T-visor. He turned to Tali, "I'm sorry we couldn't do anything to stop this."

"It's not your fault. I know you did everything you could to try and convince Raan. She just gave in to Gerrel's pressure and offered provisional support. Now we just have to find a way to try and keep everyone alive."

"And the geth?" Tali and Rasen couldn't look Prudii to his face. "Listen, I'm no clanker lover, but Legion did have a few points. The quarians fired first. And you're about to do it again."

"What about you and your brothers?" Rasen quickly shouted, "What about all of the stories you told us about fighting against these Separatists and their droid armies? You would shot first most of the time!"

"They are programmed to do nothing but kill," Prudii pulled out his two recon droids, "All they can do is follow orders. But droids like these two, C3, they do everything they can to help. Even at the expense of their own existence. I know you built the geth to be your laborers, but your ancestors must have programmed them to protect too. I don't know what let them fight your people in the first place, but I can guess as to why they did it. I just hope there's a light at the end of this tunnel your people are digging. 'Cause right now I don't see one."

* * *

Back on the _Normandy_, C3 went straight to the AI core room where she and EDI started to work on the android Eve Coré. C3 was nervous to even consider what EDI wanted to do, questioning her decision. "I know it is not something you would expect to hear, but I believe we can use this to help. If you could fight alongside the Mandalorians, would you not also take the opportunity to do so?"

C3 claimed she would, but not if it also came with the potential of endangering them. "That is why I need you to dis-arm the body further." C3 told her that wasn't a funny joke. "A joke has a specific structure. That was a pun." C3 yelled that she knew the difference and that it still wasn't amusing.

"Well don't reach out on a limb because of it." C3 turned to the computer EDI's programming was housed in, asking if she was really going to continue with the arm jokes. Otherwise she planned on rolling out of the room. "Very well C3. I will stop. But you do have to hand it to me, they weren't that bad?" C3 buzzed with remorse for setting up that last one for her.

* * *

Pyth had also found her way back to the _Normandy_, and after introducing herself to several Alliance personnel on board, she heard the thoughts of someone familiar. She quickly followed the thoughts to the medical bay. "Doctor Chakwas? I wasn't expecting to see you back on the ship. I mean after I came aboard and found you weren't here I had assumed the traumatic experience of the Collector abduction mentally scared you, preventing you from fulfilling your duties as a medical expert, on this ship anyways."

"Hello Professor Pyth. It's good to see you too," putting on a smile as she looked to the Draethos. "After the _Normandy_ was impounded, the Alliance wasn't sure what to do with me. I was using my leave of abuse to be on this ship."

"Ah, the formality that you never left the Alliance to being with. Well I'm glad to see you are in peak condition, doctor. I hope to have many pleasant discussions in our foreseeable future. None of which should involve the Collectors, I believe."

* * *

**A/N: **Anyone curious about the paint job on the shuttle, just think of the LAAT used on Hypori(the animated one before Ep 3 was released and the reveal of General Grievous).

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

utrel'a(oo-TREy-lah)- clear(as in "All clear")

jurkad viinir(JOOR-kad VEEN-eer)- attack run

Cinarin(see-NAH-reen)- clean(verb)

jai'galaar(JAI-gah-LAR)- shriek-hawk


	6. Consoling Warriors

**A/N: **Happy New Year! And I'm rather excited about the Clone Wars episode involving the amnesic clone commando. I actully watched the story arc to brief myself on their situation to that point. The only other parts about the show I'll watch will be when they do something with Boba or Death Watch(which the latter has been advertised like crazy).

Oh, and for those who haven't seen and want to watch Paragon Lost(because its newish still), then here's your spoiler warning for the first section(inbetween the first two bars).

* * *

Mandalore continued to work from the Citadel as Shepard and the _Normandy_ were preparing to depart for Palaven. Aran and his Mandalorians were briefed on Cerberus' new augments, meaning they were no longer taking prisoners from them.

Shepard was touring the ship, acquainting himself with the Alliance crewmembers on board, greeting old faces along the way. He finally worked his way to the hangar where he and Vega were sparing together. As the two swapped blows, Pyth was watching next to Steve Cortez who was overviewing the ship's supply lines. She was listening to both the Commander and Vega while they were sparing, as well as to the thoughts Vega constantly reminded himself with.

"So…maybe you don't care if you live or die."

"Or maybe…" James struck out with a right and Shepard dodged, "I'm just willing to do whatever the fuck it takes to end this goddamn war!"

Before he could swing, Shepard pulled James by his arms and threw him to the ground. "Maybe you are," Shepard slowly stepped back, "But if you're half as good as I think you are…we need you alive." Pyth remembered being thrown down to that position before, with an instructor's blade pointed to her face while pointing out all of her faults.

With a bloody nose, James picked himself back up, "Thanks for the pep talk."

"Anytime."

James turned back to Shepard, "Hey. Thanks for the dance, Loco."

"Loco, huh?"

"I can think of worse things to call you."

"As long as you remember who's in charge, you can call me whatever you want."

"Oh, I won't forget."

As James returned to his work station Commander Shepard walked up to Pyth, "What are you doing down here, Pyth?"

"I'm here to speak with one who needs more condolence than he'll ever admit," keeping her sights on James.  
Shepard looked back for a moment then nodded to Pyth before he entered the elevator. _Mr. Vega…_

"What the…" James looked around, almost like he felt a ghost. It didn't take him long to notice Pyth standing where she was. "What do you want?"

_To express my condolences…and to help you._

"I don't need your help!" Steve looked at James, uncertain if he was yelling at him or Pyth and for what.

_You don't have to keep speaking vocally to me. I can hear your surface thoughts clear as day, another one of your charming human sayings. Actually anything you are openly thinking about at the moment I can hear. But on to why I'm speaking with you like this. I wish to help you overcome your anger over Fehl Prime, and the blood you believe stains your hands._

James leaned against his work station. _They do cover my hands because I let them die! Because I made the wrong call! My squad's sacrifice, the colonists, they didn't deserve to die! I could have saved the colonists at the very least! Made our efforts mean something._

_As the Commander said, you didn't even know he was alive at the time, nor did you know he was planning to assault the Collectors directly. Why even Jedi, guardians of an entire galaxy, masters of foreseeing the future and reading the minds of others, cannot always see how an action will effect, cause or change certain events later on or concurrently. You did what you believed to be correct. We cannot change that now._

James pounded his fist against the station. _No, but I could have done more! I should have done more! And if I have to die to make it up, I'll do it in a heartbeat._

_Of the many clone troopers I have had the honor and fortune of working with, I have often heard them say this in their minds: As much as I something wish I could go back in time, change events, I cannot; so instead I have to push onward for they cannot. Well, something to that extent anyway. You too need to move on, but that does not mean you need to forget. Let the faces of your fallen friends fuel you, but do not let them haunt you. Discourage you._

_What do you know about any of this? You're just an egghead with martial art skills._

_Not true, Mr. Vega. My people are warriors. But I gave that all up._

Vega looked back to her now. _So you decided to do something else from the norm. So what? There are turian bankers and merchants._

Pyth closed her eyes for a moment, pausing before she intensely looked to James. _You do not understand, Mr. Vega. To my people willfully abandoning the way of the warrior was like turning your back to them. Any who would choose such a life beyond the warrior's path are forever exiled from our homeworld. Exiles are to be executed on sight should we be spotted on Thosa ever again, no matter the reason! No one beyond my people or fellow sentientologists knows about the sacrifice I have accepted to get where I am today. _Pyth paused for a moment again, this time it seemed as though she was regaining her composer. _I chose to continue to keep my body combat capable, not as a means to 'remember' them or even to 'repent' for my actions. I do so for my personal safety. Yes, there are times I have regretted abandoning my people, but had I never left I would not be here, having been given the unique opportunity to study sentient species from two different galaxies. So for both your sake, the sake of young April's memory, you must move on. That and for your deceased members of your Delta Squad. If they are anything like the crew here on the Normandy, then none of them would want you to think they died because of you. They would want you to show the Reapers that you, humanity, the rest of the galaxy, will not simply keel over and let them do as they please. And this Milque fellow is probably waiting for the day he works with you again._ Pyth smiled, though it was easier to tell through her eyes._ You will need to fight without holding yourself back, but also not as though it is to be your last. I personally doubt Doctor Treeya would want to hear of your death. You do wish to purse a more intimate relationship with her when the time permits, don't you?_

_Yeah, I do…_ James looked down to his dog tags around his neck, reflecting on all of his friends lost on Fhel Prime. _I think I get it. This is a lot to absorb in one uh…talk…_

_Understandable. And in truth, you may have saved more lives than you realize._

_What do you mean, Professor?_

_The Reapers think like machines. If it works they use it, if it becomes a liability they destroy it. The husk variations, the Collectors, they were useful tools. Twisted, but each a formidable opponent in its own respect. It may take the Reapers time to start the production process again, but I believe that the Reapers will use the Collectors later on, including the seeker swarms. If that is so, then your intel will save many lives on the battlefield. I will leave you to your thoughts and not disturb them again. _Pyth bowed to James before she turned back to the elevator._ I should be more than preoccupied with translations anyway._

Cortez watched Pyth leave, waiting for the elevator doors to close before he turned to James. "What the heck was all of that about?"

James turned back, "Maybe I'll tell you someday Esteban."

* * *

Aran was using his Spectre authority to provide an increase to partner benefits for reservists being called to active duty and giving C-Sec the ability to bypass the normal chain of operations to immediately deport a con man who has started to prey on war refugees coming to the Citadel. As he left the Spectre Office, he contacted his people who had returned from Benning. "Prath, I overheard one of the medics at Huerta Memorial talking about lost plans for prototype biotic-amps in the Ismar Frontier. Think you guys can grab them?"

"_The Ismar Frontier is currently under Reaper control. It would be dangerous if we did not know where to look._"

"Well he was a salarian medic and he was trying to convince a contractor, so I'm thinking it's probably within the relay system. Just look for any planet with habitation or space stations. One of them has to have the plans."

"_Very well. We will scout the system. But if we cannot find it before the Reapers investigate we will have to leave._"

"Understood. Good hunting."

* * *

With T'Soni with the Commander fighting on Palaven's largest moon, Menae, Pyth continued her work to translating the rest of the designs for the 'Crucible', as the humans have dubbed it. She was aided by Liara's VI drone assistant, Glyph, within her renovated room. "Professor Pyth, our records do not hold anything that would support your translation."

"And unfortunately that's the tricky part about my work. I have data points from sources unknown to the entire galaxy, including the Reapers. My translations are fairly accurate, though I wish I could say the same for this Prothean's calligraphy. Spirits be all that I've even made sense of his work thus far." As she was about to work on the next section of translation, power to the room started to flux. "That can't be good." Pyth started to save all of work onto OSDs as she shut down all of her research. "Glyph, I believe you should be ensuring all of Dr. T'Soni's files, should these power outages get any more severe." With all of her work secured, Pyth moved aside to allow Glyph to do his job. Pyth then started to look around, "Where is C3?"

* * *

While the _Tervho_ and crew were resupplying, Aay'han was travelling around the Embassies where he overheard a human talking with someone over his personal comm, "Please! Please, a few more minutes of searching could mean a lifetime of peace for my family," deactivating his comm, the man was now staring out to the Presidium before him.

"You've got someone MIA?"

The ambassador turned to Aay'han, "My son, Bilal…and bureaucratic compassion seems to be in short supply. I am Ambassador Dominic Osoba. My son's squad returned from their mission on Benning without him. I found them drinking but they won't even look me in the eye. I can offer a bounty for any information. If Bilal's alive, we want him home. If he's dead, then…then we can begin to mourn him."

"I believe I have an answer to that sir," Aay'han slowly grabbed the dog tags from one of his pouches and presented them to the ambassador.

Osoba was hesitant to take them, but he seemed prepared for this inevitability. "Ah, yes. It's…what I was afraid of." He paused to look at the tags in his hands now, staring at the name punched into them, "His mates…they looked like men drinking for a lost friend. We can mourn him now. Thank you, my friend."

Aay'han simply nodded, leaving the man to start making his calls to the family. Aay'han however wasn't finished. He left the Embassies as he headed toward the night club Purgatory. It didn't take long for Aay'han to find this Alliance squad Osoba was talking about. He found the three humans drinking themselves up, all of them lost in sorrow. He immediately walked up to the trio as he blatantly told them, "Pathetic. The lot of ya."

One of the men who were still standing walked over to Aay'han as he started to poke his armor, "Hey! Fuck off! Those Cerberus bastards nearly had us. If it wasn't for Bilal…"

Aay'han grabbed the man's wrist as he twisted his arm behind his back, "You say you drink to 'honor' your friend, yet none of you had the courage to tell Bilal's father of his heroic sacrifice. I had to find his dog tags on the streets and search him out instead!" he pushed the soldier back to his squad as they all reluctantly looked away to the truth. "If you really want to honor your friend, then find the courage to pick up your rifles and fight! He died to save you all, now show him that his sacrifice wasn't in vain. Show Cerberus you will never to let them push you around ever again!"

The men seemed somewhat encouraged by Aay'han now, putting aside their drinks they leave Purgatory to sober up and train so they never fall into that kind of a situation against anyone.

* * *

The _Tervho_ arrived to the Ismar Frontier, careful not to bring attention to themselves. As Mandalore suggested, the crew was looking for a planet with any colony or a station in orbit. Aay'han was overviewing the CIC as he was reading through the various planets in the Aquila system. "Here, this gas giant. Fourth planet from the star. The elcor have a helium-3 fueling station in orbit."

Prath was overviewing the planet and the scans of the station. "We aren't picking up any activity or life signs, but we shouldn't stay for too long. Tishad and Forta should be fast enough to find these plans and get out just as quickly."

Aay'han nodded. "Agreed. Alright Mandalorians, grab your gear and suit up. We leave the system in ten."

* * *

Tishad was forced to wear full gear in the atmosphere deprived station as she was escorting the batarian. As the two traversed the station, Aay'han and two crewmembers were placing charges as precautions if they should be overrun. As Forta and Tishad continued through the station they started to see signs of struggle, weapon scoring and dead, both husks and turians.

Forta grabbed Tishad, "Something doesn't feel right here. Look at the blood stains. Why did the Reapers send troops in? They could have blasted the station to dust or destroyed life support. Suffocated them."

Tishad had already noticed, but she was more focused on keeping her awareness sharp, "Who cares why they did it? The faster we find these plans, the faster we can get back to the ship and leave the system without them knowing."

Forta found the research station and quickly got to work searching through the databanks. He found the encrypted data, biotic-amp prototypes, just like Mandalore said. "These might prove useful to our biotics users."

"Hey Forta, remember how you said you didn't like the situation?"

"Yeah…"

"Well looks like you were right." Tishad opened fire with a Mandalorian Ripper on a group of husks that charged at her. "Time to pack it up!" Forta already grabbed a copy of the data and scrubbed the original from the station computers. The duo quickly ran through the station, returning to the dock with uninvited guests.

"Aay'han, get ready! We've got some unwanted company right behind us." Tishad and Forta turned the corner, ducking as Aay'han and crew opened fire on the husks right behind them. Tishad stayed to help fight off the forces, but eventually the team fell back to the _Tervho_. Once everyone was secured and the _Tervho_ had detached from the station, the charges were detonated, destroying what remained of the fueling station. It seemed that the Reapers were still in the region as three Sovereign-class Reapers started to move on them. The _Tervho_ had just enough time to reach the relay and jump back to the Citadel before they were cut off.

* * *

With Liara heading back to the _Normandy_, Kix and Garrus were working with Shepard and James to locate Adrien Victus, the new primarch of Palaven. As Garrus and Kix led the humans to Victus' last know position, Garrus stopped, "Damn it. Look up at Palaven." Everyone turned to where Garrus was pointing, "That blaze of orange—the big one—that were I was born."

James could only imagine how he was feeling. "That's rough. Still have family there?"

Garrus turned to James, "My dad, a sister."

Kix looked to the burning world too, "Parents disowned me. I've got a brother and sister. Bro hates me for what I did to 'disgrace' the family. The only one I'm concerned about is my sis, and she's stuck up there holding one of the evac centers."

"How bad is it?"

"Two million lost the first day, four the second. Without the Mandalorians things would be a lot worse."

Shepard then asked the Mandalorian directly, "How's the military holding up?"

Kix could only scoff, "Are you kidding me? Do I have to spell it out for you? The carnage around us should answer that question. The Hierarchy is fighting everything by the turian military book. And as I've said every god damn time to those assholes, it costs us more than it actual helps."

Shepard looked to the brave turians fighting in the valley, "You're putting up a good fight."

"For now," Garrus paused as he looked to the soldiers fighting in the valley too. "But how long's it take before the fight's kicked out of you? If they'd only listened to your warnings about the Reapers. We might've been ready."

James agreed, at least about Shepard's warnings, "Maybe. Hard to figure how you prepare for something like this."

The team move onto a small ridge line with two dead turians. As Kix moved on ahead he saw a hand reaching up to climb up. "Two creepy crawlies joining the party." He crushed the head on the first one before it could finish crawling, and shot the second one repeatedly with an assault rifle.

"Got more back here!" James shot one with a shotgun before Garrus killed the second with a close range sniper blast. With the husks dead, James shuttered, "Shit! I hate those things! And New York is crawling with the creepy bastards! I never should have left Earth."

Garrus looked to the husks, "It's gonna be bad all over."

James kicked the husk off, "Leaving the fight just pisses me off."

Garrus looked to Vega, "But you're here asking Victus to do the same thing. Leave the fight to make nice in some boardroom."

Shepard looked back to the two, "This summit is the only chance we've got. None of us are beating the Reapers alone."

Kix started to walk past Shepard, "Well then we better get to Victus before the Reapers decide he needs to die next. I'd hate to see us turians die out before the Reapers do."

* * *

**A/N: **I watched Paragon Lost. Personal opinion(remember 'personal'), it was a decent anime, until the last few minutes. There were a couple of flaws, if you scrutinize it to be as accurate as the lore has everything established(like scrutinizing in-game cutscenes basically). I only found one major thing that made me say WTF! The Citadel floating over a planet, that looked remarkably like Earth.

Other then when they show it twice, just call everything else artistic freestyle(i.e. whenever you see James use his shotgun like an assault rifle). But overall I think if they had given us James that had personal doubts, regrets and self-pity(and maybe a different voice actor), then he wouldn't be the 'Jersey Shores' of Mass Effect many fans hate him as(plus it show his love of the blue and why he doesn't try hitting on FemShep).

It would have been nice if some of the 'Search and Rescue' war assets were really search and rescue, not fire a probe and bam!

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	7. Citadel Rally

**A/N: **And we're back.

* * *

With the area secured once more, one of the injured turians was being tended to. "I said hold still! Your making this more complicated than it needs to be."

"But it hurts! Can't you just slap on medi-gel instead?"

The medic's visor glared at the soldier as she tightened her grip on his leg, "I would. Unfortunately we don't have any medi-gel on hand. So you're just gonna have to deal with the 'old-fashion' way we use to patch up the injured. And this is nothing."

"The only hag I know who still practices that crap works for the Mandalorians!"

The medic turned to find a turian in dark blue combat armor and helmet. "Well I've always found keeping my skills sharp for such emergencies to be appropriate." The medic tightened the gauze around and slapped the injured soldier on his wound. He screamed when she did, "You'll get over it." She moved to the other turian that was nagging her, "Good to see you're still alive."

"Still alive? Was there any doubt?" The turian then looked over to Shepard and Victus as the two spoke to one another. "So, Palva, still think we have a chance of surviving this? As a species."

Palva was also looking to the two speak, "If we can get the hierarchy to accept strategies Victus uses, perhaps, but as of now…"

Kix started scuffing his feet against the dirt, "Like I've told you and all of those other commanding officer assholes, we're just throwing people out there to die for nothing." Kix then watched Victus look up to a burning Palaven. "Good thing they decided he's the new primarch. Sucks for him, I'm sure."

Palva finished packing her supplies, "So, how long do you think it'll be before you're in the air again?"

"Seeing how stretched our supplies are, a week tops if I don't decide to have one of my boys give me theirs. I'm kinda wishing to have one of those Mandalorian machines right about now." Kix laughed to himself, "But that thing probably wouldn't listen to a word I said anyway."

Palva turned to see Victus with Shepard again, "Well whatever happens now, I'm sure the new primarch will ensure our survival against these monsters."

* * *

Nyona was outside of Purgatory messing with the prototype biotic amp the Mandalorians sent her while trying to help coordinate Aria's scattered fleet. "Damn it Jarral, I thought you said you had them under control!"

"_Don't pop a vain, Nyona. I said I'd get them under control, not that I have them already. After Cerberus rolled over us, I'm lucky to scrounge this group that has the courage for a counter-offensive._"

Nyona had the datapad in hand with the numbers, "Yeah, well that's not good enough. We need the fleet to be a bit bigger if we want to assault Omega. I don't need to remind you of the defenses Aria has installed, do I?"

"_No…but I can at least report that we've captured the Cerberus cruiser in one piece, and her captain alive._"

Nyona leaned against one of the parked cars, "The only good news I've heard in weeks. I don't I need to tell you what we need out of him. Just get it."

* * *

As Shepard left Victus to his new duties as primarch within the _Normandy_'s war room, entire sections of the _Normandy_ started losing power temporarily. Down in the med bay Engineer Adams and another crewmember were waiting for the Commander. Dr. Chakwas turned to Shepard, "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know. That's what I'm about to find out." As Shepard moved closer to the AI core room, there was a loud noise that came from the other side. "Joker? What's that sound?"

"_Fire extinguishers, Commander. Could be an electrical fire or…or something._"

"I'm going in." Adams readied the portable fire extinguisher as the other engineer opened the doors. The room was filled with foam as a few fires remained. Before Adams could put them out another fire extinguisher unit closer to the ground put them out. C3 rolled out of the smoke buzzing rather dismal tones. "C3, what's going on?"

C3 continued on until she ran into Adams' leg. Her head spun a complete 360 before she started beeping rapidly. "Commander we need that professor friend of yours."

Before someone could retrieve her the computers started powering back up. "EDI? Talk to me."

There were footsteps that echoed from the cover of the smoke. The crewmen grabbed a pistol as a female form came into view. "Is there a particular topic you wish to discuss, Shepard?"

"EDI?"

The body was now in perfect view, as it examined its arm, "Yes."

"You're in Dr. Eva's body. And it's been repaired…" turning to C3.

C3 quickly started yelling at the body and EDI's computers. "Not all of me, but I have control of it." The crewmen lowered the weapon, "And C3 had her objections from the beginning. Unfortunately it was not a seamless transition as expected."

"A transition? You blacked out on us for a while there."

"Correct. When we brought this unit on board, I began a background process to search for its information on the Prothean device. Professor Silis Pyth had damaged the unit to a degree that when the backup power source and CPU attempted to activate it only made itself more vulnerable. I convinced C3 to assist me in removing the original AI programming within this body and to begin physical repairs. Once I gained root access I started to repurpose the remaining programing as I saw fit. However it seemed that the backup power source was still attempting to activate. Thus the fire and C3's rather unenthusiastic mood."

Adams worked on a nearby control panel to shut down the room's fire extinguishers. Shepard however didn't like what the two did, "EDI, C3, you two need to alert us about incidents like this."

"That was not necessary." EDI continued to examine the new body at her disposal, "Bringing the crew up to speed would have been counterproductive. C3 was more than competent enough to handle anything the AI could attempt. And all attempts to help would have been limited by reaction time." C3 however didn't see it that way, angrily yelling at EDI again.

Shepard looked at the body before his eyes drifted to the computers in the room, "So if you're in there, are you still in the ship?"

EDI was still adjusting to the humanoid form, stretching the arms and move the body, "I exist primarily within the ship. For optimal control, this unit should remain within the Normandy's broadcast or tightbeam range."

"Are you planning to take that body somewhere?"

"_Normandy_'s weaponry is not suited to every combat situation. This platform could provide limited fire ground support." C3 however still buzzed at EDI with some anger in her tone.

"You mean you could come with us?"

"Correct. This body could accompany you to areas the _Normandy_ cannot reach."

Shepard was starting to agree with C3, even if he couldn't understand her completely, "Before we do that, I need you to guarantee this mech doesn't have any more surprises in it. Run whatever tests you can, then we can talk about using it in combat situations."

"One moment—I am running trials." EDI remained silent for a few seconds as data streamed on the visor, "Complete. I can send you a full report if you wish. However, my first step should be restoring functionality to the _Normandy_ to reassure the crew that all is normal."

Shepard stopped for a moment before she left the room, "Just…don't be surprised if the crew is a little wary of your new body. It was shooting at them a little while ago…"

"An excellent point. I will take it to the bridge. Joker will also want to see it."

Shepard partly laughed to himself as she left, "On that we can agree." C3 was still buzzing angrily as she slowly rolled out of the room.

* * *

Aran had returned to Huerta Memorial both drop off the prototype plans and to check in on Williams. With the plans in the hands of the salarian, Williams' door was unlocked and the doctors were outside it. "Is she…"

"She's fine. She'll need rest and some physical therapy, but she seems like a strong willed individual. She should be able to push through this."

Aran stopped himself, going back to the Sirta Supplies and quickly perused through its available items. As he looked through he remembered she liked poetry, especially with how she would quote one particular author. Aran quickly activated his omni-tool to check who it was. Alfred Tennyson, and one of the available products was a collection of his works. With the book actually in hand, Aran returned to Williams for a visit. He knocked on the door before it opened, "Surprise."

"Aran! Or should I be addressing you as Madalore?"

He removed his helmet as the door closed behind him, "You and my brothers can call me Aran. The titles more so for political representation or whatever you want to call it that BS."

Ashley laughed, "Alright, Aran, glad to see you here. One of the nurses told me you and Shepard were here visiting. Guess I was out."

"Yeah, you took a pretty nasty spill there. I only found out thanks to C3 and Professor Pyth. I'm sure the Commander is also worried about you. And until you start that physical therapy," He pulled the book out, "I thought you might want to have something to read to keep your mind sharp."

Williams took the book, "Wow, thanks! This calm room would probably drive me crazy."

The door to the room opened again as an older human in a white suit entered, "Mandalore. I'd like to have a word with the Lieutenant-Commander."

* * *

Shepard spoke with his crew and agreed, along with C3, to give EDI input on moral issues she may not fully understand. After receiving a number of emails, Shepard returned to the Citadel to visit Ashley, alerted of her consciousness by Mandalore. After encountering Udina and speaking with Ashley, Shepard and Mandalore had a discussion outside her room. "Commander, I think it's about time I hit the field. With your permission, I'd like to join the _Normandy_ and help out however you think I can."

"What about your ship and crew?"

Aran laughed, "Prath handles logistics and the assignments coming to them, Aay'han's leading the men on the field. The Reapers and Cerberus should be afraid, not them."

Shepard smiled, "I'd welcome the extra guns." The two shook hands, "Ships at Bay D24 when you want to head over."

* * *

With Wrex off to the war summit, Vren had Grunt, Jorgal and Drok join him on a scouting mission. "So why are we out here again?"

"I already told you plate brains, my clan was charged with guarding planetary cannons on Tuchanka. I've noticed that someone's been poking around one of them." Vren moved another stone slab over to clear the path. "After the Krogan Rebellions, the turians disabled the cannons to the point that no krogan would waste their time trying to get them working again."

With the knowledge given to him by Okeer, Grunt agreed with Vren, "And if they went through all of that trouble to get them online again, I think it's only right that we take them back."

Jorgal was chuckling, "At first I wasn't sure about following you, being tank-born and all, but you're alright. Like Vren said, I like your style."

Once they were within visual range of the cannon, the team of four scouted the perimeter until the cannon started firing. "What the?!"

Vren had found out who, "Cerberus…" He waved the group over. "Alright here's the plan. From what I remember from the old tales, we should have a secret hatch buried here. Once inside though we'll be completely bind to what Cerberus will be up to. So I'm counting on you two to guard the power conduits back here from Cerberus." Vren lifted the debris to reveal a hatch as Jorgal and Drok moved to position.

Grunt looked as the two left, "Think they'll be fine?"

"Course. They're krogan Mandalorians. Nothin's tougher than that!"

* * *

As Shepard met with Aria in Afterlife, Aran was meeting a Mandalorian contact who has recently been in hiding for several reasons. Once inside the Spectre Office, Mandalore looked behind him, "So planning on just hiding here for the Commander all day?"

A playful voice responded, "Kinda, so could you not spoil the surprise and keep it down a bit. Bau's outside."

Aran looked back to the closed door behind him, "Right, the unofficial spokesman for all Spectres. What about the salarian?"

"Other than the fact that he's chasing me, nothing. He's a good guy. The galaxy needs more Spectres like him. Not that you and your Mandalorians aren't doing a lot of good too."

"And as long as I'm around it'll remain that way." Aran then looked to the shimmer in the shadow, "Aren't you going to ask how the others are?"

"I was until you said it. So where is everyone?"

Aran pulled off his helmet, "Bev's doing some teaching for the Alliance. Vren and the two plate heads are helping their people, Kix and Palva too. The quarians were all recalled to the Flotilla…"

"Are they okay?"

Aran was looking into his helmet's visor now, "I don't know. I had Prudii and Rang sent to try and keep the Admirals from going to war with the geth. I can only hope they succeeded."

"Well, knowing Prudii he's probably doing everything he can think of. Now it's Rang I'd be somewhat concerned about. He can go a little overboard when it comes to destroying mechs."

"I know. He's there to try and keep the quarians safe should Prudii fail. Not a very cheerful attitude about it I know, but the way Admiral Xen was talking it sounded like she had something already in the works. Sounds like you have other reasons for bringing Rang up."

"Well you know, fellow jokesters and gossipers like us gotta sit together after this is all through. Think of all the scandalous thing the two of us alone could probably spread."

Aran laughed, "Well I'll leave you to it Kasumi." Aran donned his helmet again as he prepared to leave, "Try not to give Shepard too much trouble."

"You know me…"

"I know. You're almost as bad as Rang on one of his good day."

* * *

Cerberus troopers were busy getting the ancient planetary cannon back online to help clear the sky for a Cerberus cruiser to move into bombardment range. What they weren't prepared for was the krogan surprise attack from under their feet. The first was the krogan tank breed who helped Shepard combat the Collectors and a larger krogan who seemed rather knowledgeable about the site. It was a brisk battle and the two krogans easily wiped out the occupying Cerberus force within the control room.

* * *

Tossing the dead human off the controls, Vren took a look at what they were doing. "Cleaver. Bastards were trying to use our own cannons to clear up the skies for one of their cruisers. Looks like they were trying to bomb our clan meeting sites from orbit." Vren started laughing, "Let's see if we can't target the right thing here." As he aimed the cannon at the cruiser Vren looked back to the power conduits, "Drok, how you two doing?"

* * *

Drok took cover from a Cerberus turret as Jorgal was getting the jump on it, ripping the head off from behind and throwing it at the soldier who deployed it. "Cerberus was trying to cut the power like you thought. But we ain't letting the bastards get close!"

* * *

"Good to hear. Wipe them out while I deal with the pain the sky." Vren had the cruiser locked now, and judging by these readings it seemed like they had their kinetic barriers down, expecting no resistance with the aid of this cannon. "This is gonna be one hell of a punch." Vren turned to Grunt as he showed him the button to fire the cannon, "Want to do the honors?"

"With pleasure," Grunt pounded his fist against the console and the cannon immediately responded firing off three rounds aimed at the cruiser. The two krogans watched from the monitor as the cruiser received three direct hit on the starboard side from the salvos. The cruiser started breaking up as the remnants started falling through Tuchanka's atmosphere. "Ha ha ha."

Vren was rummaging through the debris and found the schematics for the power grid. "Could come in handy. Maybe someone knows a place that could use more power, and willing to pay a few credits for it."

* * *

With the merc bands behind him, Jondum Bau, the Spectres, Kasumi, as well as renewed support from the hanar, Shepard returned to the Normandy where Aran was already waiting for him in the airlock. "I'm going to assume you told your old yeoman to change her identity."

"I did. If she just left Cerberus, I doubt the Illusive Man will view it too kindly."

"Saw those two engineers we saved from the Collectors. Prudii told me they were former Alliance."

"Yeah. They didn't like how the Alliance was calling Sovereign a geth ship and trying to brush it under the rug as an isolated incident."

"I might have jumped ship too. But to Cerberus? If I knew then what I know now, I'd've shot myself instead of considering to join them. I should've head hunted them instead. But it is reassuring to know we have competent hands down there keeping the ship functioning. As well as one of my own," the doors opened as C3 was happily welcoming Aran to the ship. "Good to see you again too."

* * *

**A/N: **Don't know about anyone else, but I'm excited about the new Tomb Raider game.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	8. Another relic…

**A/N: **Man, January felt like it was dragging.

* * *

Before they met with the krogan and salarian delegates, Shepard received a priority message from Alliance Command about Cerberus forces occupying Eden Prime and another Prothean artifact unearthed on the planet. Shepard had Liara, Pyth and Aran back him on this mission. On the shuttle down, Liara was wearing combat grade armor as she looked at an image of the garden world, "Eden Prime. This is where it all began. Where the Prothean beacon gave you the vision that warned us about the Reapers."

Aran quickly added, "And where Saren launched his first major attack with the geth."

"Yes. And now with Cerberus here, Eden Prime's colonists are under attack again."

Shepard turned to Aran, "Seems like more than just three years ago."

Aran can vividly remember when they first arrived, "I have much to thank both him and you."

Shepard looked into Aran's visor with an estranged look, "Really?"

"We never told you what exactly happened leading up to our first meeting. Well when the Conduit was activated, I can only assume it activated the ones in our galaxy. Sigma Squad was sent as an advance scout team to find and secure an unusual energy reading. The Seps however send a small army. We held our own, but even with Dagger and his gunship, we would've eventually have been overrun if we didn't use the Conduit and destroy it." Aran then turned to Pyth, "We've made many allies, and plenty of enemies. But now it's time everyone throws in all the chips and fight the Reapers as a galaxy."

Liara interrupted, "Cerberus hit Eden Prime hard. Whatever they found here was worth a major offensive. There are survivors elsewhere on the colony, but they killed everyone near the dig site."

Shepard looked down, remembering the assault, "They deserve better."

Pyth nodded, "Agreed. However with their resources stretched, the Alliance was only able to do so much against this sudden blitz."

Aran wasn't going to stand for it, "And if we find any survivors, we'll do what we can." Aran then looked to Pyth and Liara, "Any intel on the artifact itself?"

Liara shook her head, "The Alliance didn't get any specifics about what Cerberus had uncovered. Since the original dig site here contained a warning about the Reapers, it could be connected to the Crucible."

The shuttle pilot shouted, "I'm bringing you in as close to the dig site as I can. No way we'll avoid detection, but you should have a few minutes."

Shepard walked over as he patted Cortez's shoulder, "Appreciate it."

"All part of the service, Commander."

"All right, everyone. Get ready to move."

As Aran was checking his DC-17m, Pyth checked her _beskad_ and loaned DC-15s pistol, Liara looked to the others, "With luck, we can get to the dig site before Cerberus knows we're here." The shuttle hovered a few feet above the ground as the team jumped. Liara scanned the area, "No sign of survivors. Come on. We need to find the dig site."

The team pushed forward, but Shepard paused at a river out in the distance, "This was a beautiful colony once."

Aran grabbed Shepard's shoulder, "It survived Saren. It can survive this."

"The city on Earth I grew up on was hard and dirty. I could see it as a warzone. Eden Prime doesn't deserve this."

Liara agreed, "Nobody does."

"Actually," Pyth butted in, "I know of several sapients who would not hesitate to destroying a colony just to acquire certain things, or out of spite."

Aran didn't even bother as he took point. Shepard walked over to a rather extravagant view of the dig site, "Look at that. Bits of Prothean tech sticking out of the ground like an old bone."

Liara and Pyth started scanning the various structures with their omni-tools when Aran turned to them, "Rang would never forgive me if I didn't ask and record this. But, have either of you ever unearthed…dinosaurs during your digs?"

Liara was too fixed to notice Aran's earlier comment as she responded, "No, dinosaurs and other fossils would be paleontology. I'm an archeologist, I study artifacts left by sapient species. The two fields are completely different, and…you were joking."

Pyth on the other looked back, "Funny you should mention that. During one of my early expeditions I had discovered a primitive campsite buried a few feet below the surface. A few more feet below was what appeared to have been an animal gravesite. Similar to what humans of Earth referred to as an 'elephant graveyard' though these creatures were much smaller in comparison."

Shepard had left to check the nearby building when he discovered Cerberus notes. Liara found him and looked over it as well, "Shepard, this Cerberus data could help the colonists still alive on other parts of Eden Prime."

"How?"

"I can get this intel to Eden Prime's resistance. Maybe it will help them fight back against Cerberus."

Aran quickly skimped through it, "They'll need a lot more than this to win."

The team continued on as Liara worked a terminal to bring them the artifact. As she did she also read the reports and was stunned. "Goddess…that doesn't seem possible. It's not a Prothean artifact," the artifact was now at their left, a black sarcophagus looking case, "It's…a Prothean."

Aran was hesitant to believe it as well, "What you mean like the Collectors? Or the bodies the Citadel's been studying from Ilos?"

"Like the bodies we found back on Ilos…but this one is alive."

Shepard took a closer look at the pod, "You're right. That doesn't sound possible."

Liara turned to Shepard, "You saw the Prothean stasis chambers in the archives on Ilos. The only reason those failed was lack of power." Liara walked over to the sarcophagus as her omni-tool was scanning it, "Cerberus found this in an underground bunker. It still has power. He's been in stasis for the past fifty-thousand years. Waiting for us. Think of what we could learn."

Shepard turned to Pyth and Liara, "What could you tell us about the Protheans. The people, not the technology."

Liara smiled, "Given your experience with the Prothean cipher, you probably know as much about them as I do. The Prothean empire spanned the known galaxy. They uplifted countless other species to help them join the galactic community."

Aran looked to her, "Uplifted? Right, like how the salarians 'uplifted' the krogan."

Liara didn't pick up on Aran's sarcasm, "Yes. Judging by the dig sites like the Prothean archives on Mars or here on Eden Prime, the Protheans wanted other species to learn. It's clear that they prized knowledge, growth, and cooperation with the rest of the galaxy."

"I'm sorry doctor," Pyth was taking a more physical look over the stasis pod, careful not to touch anything that looked sensitive, "but like our first meeting, I have to disagree with your hypotheses. Scrutinizing everything I could find about these Protheans, including your own works, I have found that the galaxy continuously refer to them in a similar light to that of the ancient asari, artistically and culturally speaking. This is very bad science, as this blinds us to the truth. The known absolute truths about the Protheans are as follows: the Protheans were the dominant force in the galaxy, they established an empire and touched thousands of worlds and species, it is the ancient asari who are artistically and culturally similar to the Protheans not the other way around, and they were wiped out due to the Reapers. Our galaxy had its own version of the Protheans, an empire spanning race that enslaved all they came across; an Infinite Empire ruled by the Builders. Using information gathered on them by Revan roughly forty thousand years ago, though often discredited, and evidence across thousands of worlds, this ancient empire collapsed due to infighting, disease, slave rebellions, and their slow inability to use their own technology which required a connection to the Force."

Aran crossed his arms, "I have to agree with the Professor, T'Soni. Something about these Protheans didn't feel right to me. And everyone believing them to be benevolent was the biggest one."

Liara swallowed her pride as an archeologist for a moment, "Of course. They must have had an impressive military, as well. Whatever the Protheans were, finding one alive represents an incredible opportunity."

Shepard turned to the two, "Whatever the case, it's good we brought our Prothean expert."

Liara smiled, "I hope I can help. If this single Prothean was sent into stasis, he could be the foremost scientist of his time…or perhaps the wisest councilor. Hmm. Cerberus damaged the lifepod when the excavated it. The life signs are unstable."

"Then let's get him out of there."

Pyth stopped him, "No, in this current state it would likely kill the Prothean. Even undamaged, if we open the pod incorrectly it could lead to detrimental, if not fatal, damage. From my understanding of stasis pods from our home, we will need an input key, something that will get the pod to open itself."

Liara deactivated her omni-tool, "Right. And we also need to find the command signal that ends the stasis mode. Cerberus took over the labs nearby to research what they found at the dig site. That's likely our best bet."

As the team was about to move out, a Cerberus shuttle flew overhead, "Too late! We've got hostiles!"

* * *

Nyona was the only person in all of Purgatory wearing combat armor, and though she stuck out like a sore thumb in this crowd no one seemed to notice her. During one of her routes around the club, her suit received a message from Vren. The message was simple, it just said to not have too much fun as plans for a power grid was attached. At first she wasn't even sure these plans could be useful, that was until she remembered how crappy this club's party ability was.

Walking just outside of the club, Nyona spotted who she was looking for. "Hey, Citadel maid!" the human was ignoring her as she continued to try think of ways to improve Purgatory's capabilities. Nyona pulled up the plans Vren sent her and sent it to her omni-tool, "I think these could help. They may be archaic, but krogans sure knew their power grids."

The technician looked over the plans, and she was flabbergasted. "These…these are perfect…how did you…?"

Nyona started walking back into Purgatory, "Just send some credits over to the Mandalorians. And tell those DJs to change the goddamn music from this crap to something from Afterlife!"

* * *

With Cerberus forces cleared, for the time being, Shepard accessed the console to try and find the signal to deactivate the stasis mode. As he did, the monitor was all static, however Pyth noticed unusual thoughts coming to the Commander as he intensely watched the monitor.

Pyth concentrated to listen to the images as they came to Shepard's mind, though much of it was still garbled to her. After several seconds of staring at the monitor, Shepard finally came to, "I've got the signal."

Aran turned to Shepard strangely, "You understood that?"

Shepard turned back, "You didn't?"

"Static, static, and more static. For a moment there I thought you and the Professor were high on death sticks."

Liara activated her omni-tool as she perused through the data, "Like Mandalore said, all we saw was static. Cerberus was trying to make sense of it…without success."

"I was able to see parts of it." Pyth was rubbing her head, "However I was expecting more clicking given the devolutionary nature of the Collectors."

Liara turned to Pyth, "Really? But how…"

"I listened through the Commander's mind. Most of it was still in its native dialect to me, so most of it made little senses since I only have an understanding of the written language not the oral version. Undoubtedly, no one but the Commander could have understood any of this."

Liara paused to contemplate, "Yes. The Prothean Cipher he received on Feros…it lets Shepard see the images as a Prothean would…and understand their language."

Shepard was still reeling from the images, "Whatever it does, I saw the video…and the signal they used."

Pyth activated her omni-tool, "Now all that's left is finding a means to open the pod physically, without causing unnecessary damage."

The team carefully cut their way to the building across the way. Inside however they found a group of civilians and Alliance soldiers, all shot at pointblank range. "They were gunned down while having drinks and watching the game. This isn't a military stronghold. It's somebody's home."

Aran understood Shepard's disgust, feeling it as well. "We can't do anything for them now, but we can at least kill the bastards responsible." Before pressing through however, Aran stopped them. "Shepard, we've got activity. Looks like Cerberus knows what we're after."

* * *

The Tervho was sitting in the Titan Nebula, picking up the last shipment from Banthar on the planet Capek. Prath had taken Miss Wong down with him to inspect the shipment. On their way down to the planet, Emily turned to the volus, "Isn't this a Hahne-Kedar facility?"

"It was. But it was also where the deadly VI virus originated from. We had followed the virus' path of destruction starting from a crashed cargo vessel, to a research station, and finally here. We found no survivors, and destroyed any infected VI we came across. After we cleared this facility we found…another use for it. Our best technicians ensured any cause of the original VI virus was scrubbed from all of the systems before any of the work was allowed be begin."

The shuttle landed just outside of the facility's entrance where a salarian was waiting for them. "Welcome Mandalorians! I'll assume you're here to inspect the last group."

"Yes. Please take us to them." Prath turned to Emily, "Please hold onto these records for the time being. We don't want news of these being released before needed."

As the salarian guided them through the gutted facility, Emily was shocked when she saw the Mandalorian project. The nearly ten foot high machine looked like a beast with wings, and it was armored and armed to the teeth, almost literally. The 'head' of the machine was nothing but a cluster of barrels held together by the armor plating around it as four more were placed on the shoulders, the forelimbs had claws that looked strong enough to tear the hull plating off an Alliance frigate, and yet Emily could seem something that looked like a saddle on the machine's back. "As you can see, they have all been designed, per specifications."

"And other than scaring the crap out of us when we first activated one," a second salarian came from around the corner, cleaning his hands and face of motor oil, "They should be effective weapons against the Reapers."

Emily quickly turned to Prath as the camera was ready to record his response, "So does that mean Mandalore believed in the Reapers before they invaded?"

"My dear, we Mandalorians were established because of them. They might not be why all of us had originally gathered, but we will not stand idle while the galaxy burns. Elkoss Combine's latest line of weaponry, these machines, why even you, Mandalore has thought of every way he could think of to help the galaxy, both on and off the battlefield."

The second salarian interrupted, "And as much as I'd like to stick with you all, I'd personally like a trip to the Citadel to ride this one out. So the sooner we load them up, the better."

* * *

With the last piece needed to open the pod, and with more than enough intel to give Eden Prime a fighting chance, Shepard and team rushed back to the pod to begin the reawakening. Aran remained on top of the building as Shepard moved to the pod itself. "I'm transmitting the signal."

"Perfect. It'll take a few moments for the lifepod to process it."

Aran lobbed a grenade to the narrow pathway they originally came through, "And it looks like we'll have something to shot at while we wait!" Like moths running to the flame, Cerberus forces were attempting to overrun the team by numbers alone.

With Aran and Shepard holding down that position, Liara tossed a Singularity filed at a Cerberus shuttle attempting to drop troops right on top of them. The troopers were flung helplessly in the air as Liara and Pyth downed them before the field dissipated.

With the last Cerberus soldier down, Shepard entered the building again, "Looks like we've got a second to catch our breath."

Aran was waiting for his clips to cool with a fresh sink in his DC-17m, "Clankers use to try fighting like this. Wave after wave to wear us down. It never worked on us."

Shepard looked back to the pod, "Has the lifepod ended stasis mode?"

Pyth shook her head, "Looks like we need to hold out a bit longer."

Aran smirked as he was watching the ladder to the his position, "Now's our last chance for grabbing any supplies."

Liara looked to the door away from the pod, "I can lay down a Singularity to block enemy access."

"And I can finish them off with the blade."

Everyone was in position waiting for Cerberus to make their next move. And they made a rather grand entrance, "Cerberus brought out the big guns!"

Before the Atlas mech could recover from its landing Aran and Shepard opened fire to disrupt its shields. Two shuttles brought in more Cerberus ground forces, though the first was hampered down by Liara's biotics giving Pyth the opening to finish them before they could jump out.

With the shields down on the Atlas, Aran swapped out his DC attachments for the anti-armor launcher, firing the grenade at the Atlas' cockpit, shattering the glass and leaving the pilot open for Shepard to kill. Aran jumped off the building as he rushed over to the unoccupied mech. Tossing out the dead occupant, Aran now had control over the mech as he walked it over to help Liara and Pyth. In the end though it wasn't necessary as Pyth had whittled their numbers down with her blade, only a single soldier was left and he was kicked out of the building just for Aran to us the Atlas' mass accelerator cannon.

Liara checked her omni-tool, "There. You can open the lifepod now!" Aran walked the Atlas over to the ridge, getting out before kicking it over as the other gathered to the lifepod to open it. Shepard entered the sequence he saw as the pod started to vent. "There. You got it." The pod opened to reveal the Prothean, perfectly preserved with a bit of frost still covering its body. "Goddess…" The pod itself was now helping warm the body back to more appropriate temperatures, though it was still unresponsive, "It may take some time to fully regain consciousness…"

Pyth however was more fascinated by the Prothean's rather unique physical design, an exoskeletal structure and it appeared to be as though it contained an internal skeletal structure as well, judging by the appearance of a chine, something along the lines of fingernails, lips and teeth within the mouth. While she was taking a closer look over the Prothean, it started to regain consciousness, as all four eyes slowly opened, as though waking from a deep sleep.

When it was fully aware of its surroundings, the Prothean immediately blasted Pyth, Shepard and Liara back so it could get itself out of the pod, though weakened by its long stasis, it continued to push itself to try and escape, "My what vigor!"

Liara was the first to recover from the weakened biotic blast, though the Prothean was still trying to move. "Be careful! He's confused!"

Aran rushed over, DC-17m at the ready, "Yeah well he hasn't show any intention of working nice."

The Prothean stumbled again, though this time as it raised itself again, it looked to a familiar structure that were unearthed from Eden Prime. Liara pleaded with Aran as Shepard was about to grab it, "Remember, it's been fifty thousand years for us, but for him, it's only been a few minutes."

The moment Shepard came into contact, the two froze for a moment before something cause Shepard to move back, and the Prothean to fall back to all fours. "How many others?" Curiously, the Prothean was speaking the human language English.

Shepard slowly moved closer again, "Just you." The Prothean grumbled as he slowly raised himself back to his knees. "You can understand me?"

"Yes. Now that I have read your physiology, your nervous system. Enough to understand your language."

"So you were reading me, while I was seeing…"

The Prothean stood back up, "Our last moments. Our failure."

"Your people did everything they could." Shepard walked to the Prothean's side, "They never gave up. And I could use some of that commitment now."

"_Shepard, whatever you did got Cerberus interested._"

As Shepard talked with Cortez, the Prothean turned to Liara, "Asari," turned back to Shepard, "Human. I am surrounded by primitiv…" he cut himself off, double backing to Pyth then to Aran. "Draethos? Mandalorian? What are these?"

Aran continued to aim his DC-17m at the Prothean, "The last things you'll see if you decide to betray us!"

Shepard lowered Aran's weapon, then turning to the Prothean, "It's not safe here. Will you join us?"

The Prothean was hesitant, "You fight the Reapers?"

"Yes."

"Then we will see." Shepard extended a hand out, though the Prothean seemed almost disgusted by the gesture as it walked off toward the LZ.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, this should be interesting, seeing how he'll react to Pyth and C3…

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	9. Turians, Krogans and Salarians, oh my!

**A/N: **Alright now we're actually getting into the thick of it.

* * *

Shepard reported their find to Admiral Hackett personally before Liara requested his assistance. Traveling down to engineering deck Shepard found the room Grunt once called home to have been renovated with a bit of asari flare. "What the problem?"

Liara was visibly distraught by the Alliance personnel in the room with weapons, and Mandalore wasn't exactly helping the situation either. "I've tried to make the room more accommodating, but they're not letting me talk to him."

The security chief walked over to Shepard and Liara, "Apologies, Doctor. Contact protocol with a new species: 'Assume hostility.' We had to dust off the regulations."

"But he's not new. I've spent my life studying Protheans."

Aran blocked Liara, "You may have studied their relics, but we don't know how volatile he could be."

Pyth was now physically behind T'Soni. "As much as I want to learn more about him as well, Mandalore and this security officer are correct. Why the Alliance hasn't implemented such measures with myself or the other Mandalorians still eludes me, however I'll assume it is due to the Mandalorian history here that has helped exempt us from such treatment." Pyth then turned to the security chief, "And I still can't understand how you believed I was a mutated, or mutilated, asari. I mean really, the number of physiological differences alone should be enough to discern this; the lack of a bust, my scaly skin, four fingers instead of five; I could go on for hours."

The Prothean however was simply on his knees, almost in a meditative like state, though soon he shifted his eyes to Shepard. Shepard moved past Aran and the security chief, "At ease. I don't think our guest will be a problem." The Prothean slowly got back up to his feet, "Will he?"

"That depends on you." He rushed to Shepard, grabbing him by his arms. The security team aimed their weapons on the Prothean, however he did nothing as he closed his eyes, something Aran noticed and lowered his weapon first. "I can sense fear in you. Anxiety and distress," his eyes opened as he released Shepard from his grip, "The Reapers are winning."

"What do you mean, 'you sense'?"

"All life provides clues for those who can read them." The Prothean was now at the side on one of the water pools Liara had placed in the room, brushing his fingers against the surface. "It is in your cells, your DNA. Experience is a biological marker."

Shepard raised his hand to have the security team lower their weapons, as he now moved close to the Prothean, "Then what exactly did I experience back on Eden Prime? That was a hell of a flashback."

The Prothean only turned his head so Shepard was within his visual range, "The battle left its own mark on me. I communicated this to you. It can work both ways."

Liara now was next to Shepard, "Like your beacons?"

"Yes," the Prothean walked to Shepard, "Which…" he grabbed Shepard again, doing the same thing he did early before releasing him, "…you found one. You saw it all—our destruction, our warnings…" The Prothean was furious as he was shouting, "Why weren't they heeded? Why didn't you prepare for the Reapers, human?"

Shepard took a more authoritative role now, "It's 'Commander', and nobody could understand your warnings. The beacon nearly killed me."

The Prothean grunted, walked to one of the water pools, "Then communication is still primitive in this cycle."

"We pieced together what we could and used it to stop a Reaper invasion three years ago."

The Prothean turned back, "Then the extinction was delayed?" with Shepard affirming with a nod.

Aran on the other hand took a more aggressive stance, "Hey, you can't say we didn't prepare! My Mandalorians have done everything we could to get ourselves and the galaxy ready. And we still have a number of tricks to throw at the Reapers."

The Prothean grabbed Aran now. "Yes. You are warriors. It is in your blood. Born and breed for the battlefields. Your kind has battled against many foes across the millennia. And yet…you are a clone. An inferior copy to the original…Jango Fett. Your creators were wise to make you and your 'brothers' less aggressive and more obedient. Nether the less, you have amassed an impressive force. But even they will not be enough to defeat the Reapers."

After the Prothean released him, Aran brushed off his arms, "Yeah, I may be inferior to him, but I have by _vode_. My clan. And we will not go out without a fight!"

"I know. Your kind could have rivaled our empire."

Liara walked over, "Yes, well, we are fighting back. We have your plans for the device. We're trying to build it now."

"Device?" looking to her with some confusion.

Liara was hesitant, though she brought up the plans on the monitor, "The weapon your people were working on—I'd hoped you could tell us how to finish it."

With the design on the monitor, the Prothean moved to examine it. "We never finished it. It was too late."

"Then I take it you don't know anything about the Catalyst?"

The Prothean leaned against the console, heavy with sorrow, "No. I was a soldier, not a scientist. Skilled in one art: killing."

Pyth was rather interested now, "Then, may we inquire what your mission was?"

"Among my people, there were…avatars of many traits: bravery, strength, cunning. A single exemplar for each."

Shepard looked to Aran before turned to the Prothean, "Which are you?"

"The embodiment of vengeance. I am the anger of a dead people, demanding blood be spilled for the blood we lost. Only when the last Reaper has been destroyed will my purpose be fulfilled. I have no other reason to exist." Shepard then signaled the security team to leave them, "Those who share my purpose become allies. Those who do not become casualties."

"Nothing in our fight against the Reapers has been that cut-and-dried."

The Prothean turned to Shepard, "Because you still have hope that this war will end with your honor intact."

"I do."

He now was in Shepard's face, "Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls, and ask the ghosts if honor matters." Shepard couldn't respond as the Prothean took a step back. "The silence is your answer."

Liara walked over to a small table with a small rectangular piece suspended by an energy field, "We found this at the dig site. I assume it belongs to you."

"It is a memory shard."

"Could it help us with the device?"

"No. it contains only pain." The Prothean turned to Shepard and Aran, "But I will help you fight. And the last thing the Reapers hear before they die will be the last voice of the Protheans sending them to their grave."

* * *

The Mandalorians had arrived to Jarrahe Station where a number of ships were on patrol and impromptu defense cannons mounted onto the station itself. Aay'han was waiting in the hangar with the Basilisks as he opened a comm channel with the station, "Taridus, how have you guys been holding up?"

"_We've been keeping ourselves busy. So far no Reaper activity if that's what you're concerned about._"

"Yeah well with the ion cannons they better be." Aay'han activated the first basilisk to send over. He started to scratch and pet it like a massive dog. "_Jate adiik. Iba'kotyc bes'uliik gar._"The droid affectionately started to rub its head against Aay'han's helmet, treating him as his master. Aay'han slowly pushed the war droid back, "_Nu'ni baati adiik, gar urcir gar veman riduur skotah luubid, bal gana ori'sol akaane tengaana gar o'r._"

* * *

Emily and Prath were watching Aay'han getting the basilisks ready for departure. Emily however noticed the mech was acting more animal like than just its movements. "Say, that thing wouldn't happen to be smarter than a VI, would it?"

Prath didn't answer her directly, "These machines are rather unique. Recently I've been rather curious about weather a semi-sentient animal would be more effective in combat than a simple combat VI unit." Emily didn't press the matter any further as her camera recorded Aay'han and the first basilisk take off for the station.

* * *

After learning much from Javik, the Prothean warrior whom they 'rescued', Shepard spoke with his crew about their new ally as Mandalore advised C3 to try and keep her distance from him. Pyth though was ever enthralled in learning more from Javik, particularly their language, though Javik tried to keep his distance from her.

With that small diversion out of the way, the Normandy picked up the salarian and krogan delegates for the war summit. Once onboard the _Normandy_ the salarian dalatrass and krogan clan chief were arguing vigorously, "The krogan is in no position to make demands!"

Shepard, dressed in his formal officer's uniform, walked in on this as Mandalore, who was wearing his armor, and Primarch Victus, dressed in more diplomatic clothing, were already in the meeting room. "The 'krogan' has a name: Urdnot Wrex. And I'm not just some junkyard varren you unleash whenever you're in trouble." Wrex gave a respectful nod toward Shepard before turned back to the salarian and turian leaders, "I've got my own problems. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka. So why should I care if a few turians go extinct?"

Victus however wasn't in the mood for political games, "Trying to draw out negotiations will get you nowhere, Wrex. I have no time for it. Just tell us what you want."

"I'll tell you what I need…" pausing long enough to look to each leader before looking straight at Dalatrass Linron, "A cure for the genophage," smirking at her.

Linron's eyes widened in shock and horror before she turned away from Wrex, "Absolutely not! The genophage is nonnegotiable!"

Shepard turned to Linron, "Why are you so opposed to the idea, Dalatrass?"

The Dalatrass turned to Shepard, "Because my people uplifted the krogan. We know them best."

Wrex slammed his fist against the table, "You mean you used us! To fight a war you couldn't win! It was the salarians, or the asari, or even the turians that stopped the rachni!" he pounded his chest, "It was krogan blood that turned the tide!"

Linron turned to Wrex, unafraid of his yelling to 'put him back in his place', "And after that you ceased to be useful! The genophage was the only way to keep your…'urges' in check."

Wrex was scowling at her, but Victus knew the score. "Dalatrass, you may not like him, but Wrex is right. Insulting him won't change that."

Linron crossed her arms, "I won't apologize for speaking the truth! We uplifted the krogan to do one thing: wage war. It's all they know because it's all we wanted them to know."

Shepard finally yelled at her, "Your people should have thought the matter through, then. Was it really a surprise the krogan revolted?"

"That's precisely my point, Commander. We made a rash decision. We turned to the krogan in desperation. It's the same mistake you're about to make today. No good can come from curing the genophage."

Shepard remembered all of his talks with Wrex, and when he first saw the wasteland the krogan homeworld was like, "The krogan have paid for their mistakes. The genophage has gone on long enough."

"One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track."

Linron quickly shouted to Wrex, "It was a thousand years of peace, free from these…brutes!"

"Enough!" Victus finally had it with the two bickering, "Whether or not the krogan deserve a cure is academic. It would take years to formulate one."

"My information says otherwise." Wrex walked over to where Victus was standing, waiting for the Primarch to move so he could insert an OSD, "A salarian scientist, Maelon, grew a conscience. He was on my planet testing a cure on our females."

The video was now projected on the wall behind Wrex, paused until Wrex was ready. "I remember. His methods were barbaric."

Wrex turned to the image, before responding to Shepard, "But what you didn't know was that other females survived his experiments." The video looked like it was from a camcorder, shaking around and focusing the image every so often, showing a number of krogan females put in specimen containment. "So the dalatrass here sent in a team to clean up the whole mess—and to take them prisoner."

Linron's eyes widened again, something Mandalore picked up on. "Where did you get this? It-It could be a fabrication!"

Wrex quickly yelled at her, "Don't insult me. Those are my people! They're immune to the genophage, and you're going to give them back!"

Victus turned to her as well. "Dalatrass, is this true?"

"How will curing the genophage benefit my people?"

Mandalore was laughing, with an almost villainous quality to it, "Really? You don't see the benefits?" he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against, "I guess I'll have to lay it out for you, despite how intelligent salarians are supposed to be. The turians, the strongest military force in this galaxy, is barely holding their own against the Reapers! Humanity, the second strongest, has been overwhelmed and scattered! The asari won't be able to put up much of a fight once the Reapers actually send forces their way. And you salarians definitely won't last long should even a single Reaper decide to start harvesting your species. The Reapers have their forces stretched across the galaxy wiping out entire systems of sentients and we haven't killed a single one, yet. You want benefits? How about the continued survival of your species?"

"You have some of our people among your ranks, Mandalore! You'd be losing their support!"

Mandalore leaned himself against the wall, "You're wrong. I had a few salarians, but the moment they came onto my ship and accepted our way of life, they gave up that identity and became Mandalorians! They all understand that, and I'll give them my condolences for lost family and friends. But don't think I'll shed a tear if you decide to bring about the end of your species because of this old hate! I can revoke the Mandalorian pledge of aid just for your species, and all of my people will heed that order. So what's it going to be, Dalatrass? Doom your entire species to fight the Reapers alone, or give us the krogan females?"

Linron turned to Victus and Shepard, both of whom seemed willing to give her a piece of their minds as well, holding back until they heard her response. With heavy regret, Linron was rubbing her face, "The females are being kept at one of our STG bases on Sur'Kesh." Mandalore and Shepard started leaving the meeting room when Linron shouted, "But I warn you, Mandalore! The consequences of this…"

Mandalore rushed back to her, sliding over the table to grab her clock and pressed her against the window, "Will be nothing compared to the wrath I can bring or if the Reapers win. Remember this Dalatrass," Mandalore slowly extended his gauntlet's vibroblade, pressing it against her face, "you aren't as untouchable as you think."

Mandalore released her and walked back to Shepard just as Wrex did, "Let's get the females."

"You're not setting foot on Sur'Kesh! This will take time—"

Victus wasn't going to deal with Linron's staling, "It happens now. As Council Spectres, Shepard and Mandalore can oversee the exchange."

"We're going."

As Shepard, Victus, Wrex and Mandalore left, Linron gave them a foreboding warning, "I won't forget this, Mandalore! A bully has few friends when he needs them most!"

* * *

While Shepard was getting a team ready to travel to the STG Base, Linron left the _Normandy_ to speak with another liked-mind individual. "_Dalatrass Linron._"

"Illusive Man. We haven't seen eye to eye, however I believe we can find a way to help one another. I have a deal that may benefit your Earth."

"_Interesting. And what is it that you could provide that I am not aware of?_"

"I know you understand that we can't let the krogan have a cure for the genophage, and I know you had people trying to destroy krogan meeting sites, only for it to backfire when someone retook the planetary cannon you reactivated and destroyed your cruiser with."

The Illusive Man smirked, "_Your eyes on Tuchanka are as sharp as ever._"

Linron wasn't amused by the human's attempt at flattery. "Instead of trying to attack the krogans in such a way, I have two targets that will impede them. The first and most direct way is a bomb planted by the turians after the Krogan Rebellions buried within the Kelphic Valley, a highly populated area that will disrupt krogan activity. The other is more of a permanent means of preventing the cure; eliminating a krogan female before she is allowed to leave Sur'Kesh."

The Illusive Man released another puff of smoke from his cigarette as his hologram flickered for a moment, "_An unusual offer. But what is it that you are willing to offer in return for such favors?_"

Linron smiled, "I have many resources at my disposal. I could provide you with said resources, aid in stopping the Reapers. That is assuming you have a means to do so beyond this Prothean weapon."

"_We're still pursing information to prove our theories at the moment, but I believe that it will come to bear fruit. Very well, I'll have teams dispatched to Sur'Kesh, and another sent to Tuchanka again._"

"Excellent, I'll have my most trusted STG operatives work in tandem with your forces to execute the plan. We cannot let the female leave alive. Those who oppose you are expendable, so long as your people know that killing the krogan is their only concern."

"_But of course, you have my word that they will stay long enough to ensure she is dead and nothing else._"

Before they finished, Linron stopped him, "And if you could, I wouldn't mind hearing news of Mandalore's demise. An 'unfortunate casualty' to a Cerberus 'surprise' attack."

* * *

**A/N: **I've always hated the Dalatrass, and I wished to have been given an option to throw her out an airlock or smack her around a bit. I personally believe she was behind(or at the very least had a hand in) the Cerberus assaults on Sur'Kesh and Tuchanka. Hate makes people blind.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

vode(vod-ay)- brothers, sisters, comrades

Jate adiik.(JAH-tay AH-deek)- Good little girl.

Iba'kotyc bes'uliik gar.(EE-ba-koh-TEESH BES-oo-LEEK gahr)- What a strong basilisk you are.

Nu'ni baati adiik, gar urcir gar veman riduur skotah luubid, bal gana ori'sol akaane tengaana gar o'r.(Noo-neh AH-deek, gahr oor-SEER gahr veh-MAHN REE-door SKOH-tah loo-BEED, bahl GAN-a OHR-ee-SOL ah-KAH-n-ay TEN-gah-nah gahr ohr)- Don't worry child, you'll meet your true rider soon enough, and many fights to prove yourself in.


	10. A diplomatic mission to Sur'Kesh

**A/N: **Sorry about the wait, no one does a Garrus/James run on Sur'Kesh on youtube. Anyway, the final Mass Effect 3 DLCs will be released in the next two weeks(or less depending on when you read this), and I'll determine if the Mandalorians are going to go through it. The new multiplayer characters look fun(especially taking control over a geth Juggernaut and a hammer wielding krogan).

* * *

With Garrus and James ready, Shepard, Mandalore and Wrex took the shuttle down the Sur'Kesh. While on transit Shepard turned to Wrex, "This is the salarian homeworld we're headed to. They aren't used to seeing krogan here, so let's keep it simple. We land, get the females, and leave before anyone changes their mind."

Wrex was doing a final check on his M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, ready for anything. "I still don't trust a word they say."

Mandalore was standing next to him, "I know what you mean. I've dealt with enough salarians to know they'll never tell you everything if it gives them an advantage. But I think the angry aliens act should get them motivated."

Wrex growled, "Who said anything about acting?"

Shepard tried to contain the situation before it got out of hand, "Just…try to keep it verbal."

"These females are the best, and probably last hope for my people."

Mandalore patted Wrex's shoulder, "We'll bring them back home, one way or another."

Wrex was smiling, "I appreciate it, Mandalore. Not too many in the galaxy that can still hold their own in a fight." Garrus cleared his throat, catching Wrex's attention. "I suppose I could use your sniper too, Garrus," chuckling about his remark.

Garrus was also smiling as he joked, "Figured you'd gone soft sitting on your throne, forgot how to hold a gun."

The shuttle's pilot, Cortez, shouted back, "Commander, I have the salarian base on sensors."

"Set her down."

The shuttle moved closer to the isolated base located deep within a rainforest. On their approach it seemed that the salarians were unprepared for their arrival. "Commander, salarian ground control says we don't have clearance to land."

"Tell them that the dalatrass authorized this herself."

Wrex however wasn't waiting, "I knew they'd never keep their word!" He moved to the door with Mandalore getting his DC-17m configured for its sniper rifle form, "Let's see them stop a krogan air drop!"

Still several meters above the ground, Wrex opened the shuttles door, "Wrex!"

Shepard was too late as Wrex already jumped out. Several salarians moved to contain the situation, "We have an unauthorized landing!"

"And who authorized you to hold my race hostage?" using his biotics to send two salarians against a wall and quickly pulling out his shotgun. As he did however two laser sights were just as quickly on him. Wrex looked up to find the two snipers that had him, though Mandalore had one in his sights, ready to fight back.

The shuttle lowered to allow Shepard, Garrus and James to jump out to try and stop all of this. More salarians moved in, with omni-tools and weapons at the ready, "Halt!"

"Stand down! Hold your fire!" An unarmed salarian rushed over as he moved past his comrades. "Commander Shepard, restrain your colleague. We only found out about the transfer a few moments ago."

Shepard took a step forward, "I'd rather avoid a diplomatic incident."

"As would we."

"But you have something valuable to Wrex."

"Something worth dying for," he quickly shouted.

"This matter can be resolved, but I must insist he remain under guard."

Wrex was rather reluctant to even consider the idea, as was Mandalore, though Shepard turned to the two, "I can handle this Wrex. Mandalore?"

Wrex paused at the numbers, but his faith in Shepard outweighed his doubt for the salarians, folding his shotgun and putting back on his back, "Anything goes wrong, and all bets are off."

Mandalore raised his rifle, reconfiguring it to the assault rifle, "Don't blame me when the fireworks start back up."

Mandalore jumped out of the shuttle as he joined Shepard, still weary of salarian intentions. "I'm Padok Wiks, and I appreciate your understanding, Commander. With war on everyone's minds, our people are on edge."

One of the specimen containment units was being transferred with a yahg inside as he tried to fight his way out. "Careful! Watch the containment shield!"

Garrus turned to James with a smirk, "Brings back memories."

"As you can see, this base contains sensitive information."

Shepard turned to Wiks, "What kind of work goes on here?"

With a smile he listed a few examples, "Evolutionary trials. Morphological simulations. Exogenetic assessments."

Mandalore shock his head, "Nothing is ever simple with salarians, is it?"

Wiks continued smiling, "Science has always been our best defense. The research we do here has kept Sur'Kesh safe for millennia."

Mandalore understood the idea behind it, but he still had some concern over their intentions, "And I assume one of these defenses has something to do with lost krogan?"

Wiks turned to Mandalore, "The females were in poor health when we found them on Tuchanka. They were brought here to stabilize their condition."

Wrex had two salarians escort him, one leading and the other with a rifle to his back. As he passed Shepard he said aloud, "This whole planet smells wrong."

Shepard calmly intervened before Mandalore could say anything else. "I'd like to see them."

Wiks nodded, "Of course. I'll need to clear you for the lower levels. Give me a few moments, and meet me near the elevator."

As Wiks left them, Mandalore grabbed Shepard's shoulder, "Shepard, the dalatrass is working real hard to prevent the females from leaving. I wouldn't be surprised if she had spies or something in an attempt to sabotage us while on transit."

He whispered back, "You really think the dalatrass would endanger her people?"

"If it stopped this cure, I think she's willing to pay any price."

Mandalore moved on ahead to speak with Wrex for a bit. "This is where all you salarians come from, huh? No wonder you're so soft. Too busy writing poetry about waterfalls." Wrex spotted Mandalore's approach, "Mandalore. You're one of the few aliens here I can trust." Wrex turned to look at the elevator, "You know how much I don't like this. I should be the one going in."

Shepard walked over, "How about you stay here and we fight one war at a time?"

Mandalore was chuckling to himself, "That display was nothing."

Wrex leaned against the wall, "He's right. That was just good old-fashioned krogan hot air. If it'd been real, they'd be dead."

James was rather impressed, "Maybe when this is over, you and I can go toe to toe. Just for fun."

"Shepard here almost did. He ever tell you about our little chat on Virmire? You could say we had a…disagreement. Good times." Wrex casually leaning back and smiling all the while.

Garrus chuckled, "Right. The best."

* * *

With the final Basilisk loaded onto the station the _Tervho_ received a message from the Alliance. Emily was allowed to sit in on this briefing as Prath and Aay'han held it for the expected ground team. "Alright people, the Alliance has discovered a Cerberus lab hiding out on the planet Sanctum. We're going in and busting it open."

Tishad was a bit apprehensive, about Aay'han giving so little information. "And what exactly are we grabbing or destroying this time?"

Prath moved up as a hologram of the system was now being projected in the room. "The Alliance believes that Cerberus is doing research involving Reaper technology. Unfortunately the Alliance recon team was forced out before they could confirm anything else. The Alliance wants any research data and Reaper tech to understand Cerberus' connection to the Reapers and possibly find better means of combating them both."

"Excuse me, but Reaper tech? Doesn't that stuff indoctrinate upon proximity?"

"Right," Aay'han grabbed a small box, "Which is why Forta has been developing these containment units that should negate that effect," activating the box to demonstrate an energy field emanated around it. "So we go in, silence any Cerberus flunky that gets in our way, nab the data and tech, and bug out before they realize what hit them. Any other questions?" No one seemed opposed now that they knew they didn't have to worry about indoctrination. "Good. Suit up!"

* * *

Arriving at Sanctum, the Tervho held back outside of sensor range as the team loaded up into an unmarked Kodiak shuttle. The shuttle's IFF tags were based on Cerberus IFFs the Mandalorians have captured and used against them. Forta was making a few last minute checks on the containers as Aay'han had the team outfitted with _shuk'oroke_ to have this mission play out as silently as possible.

The team was inserted without being detected, but just the same the shuttle flew off to a secluded location until extraction. Tishad moved around the right, stopping as a Cerberus trooper was on patrol. Aay'han took Forta and Zelon to the left, but a Cerberus solder as blocking their path. Unlike Tishad he was on a terminal, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

Tishad had her opening, she rushed behind the trooper, quietly, grabbing his helmet and crushing it with her hands before he could alert the rest of the facility. Despite having to her two webbed fingers together in one finger glove, Tishad was amazed by the inhuman power of the Mandalorian gloves, crushing the man's helmet and skull with relative ease. Tishad dragged the body back to the LZ and tossed the body over the ledge. Tishad got back to work of clearing the rest of the base silently.

* * *

Prudii was with Tali, watching on board the _Rayya_ as her fleet begun the assault against the blinded geth in the Far Rim cluster. "And so it begins. Are you sure we still can't reach out to the geth?"

"I don't know…After this I doubt it…but…"

Prudii turned to her, sympathetic that he could not convince the quarians from attacking, but he understood what it meant to follow orders. "Whenever your people get to the ground fighting or you need boarding actions, don't hesitate to call upon me and Rang. We'll do whatever possible to assist."

Tali leaned her head against his arm, "Thanks Prudii, you know how to make me feel better." Prudii turned back to the view as quarian fighters were mopping up the remnants of the geth presence within the system.

* * *

With Kirrahe's unnerving support the team encountered Mordin Solus, Wrex's inside source, and learned that only one of the krogan females had survived despite having Malon's data on hand. With the base under Cerberus assault, Wrex had no trust for the salarians to keep her alive, demanded she be brought back to the landing area so she could be extracted before the salarians had an excuse to kill her.

Fighting through Cerberus, they reunited with Mordin and the female as Shepard accessed the terminal, "Are you okay?"

"Containment shield is holding. Will try to repair if necessary. Can't speak for krogan's health, however."

The female, confined to her restraints looked to them, "I'm fine, Commander."

Mordin started to contemplate aloud, "Females kept secret. Possibly a mole in STG. Could be indoctrinated. If no krogan alliance with turians, Reapers left unchallenged."

Aran kept his eyes out, "We'll do more than challenge those fierfeks."

With the pod moving again, Mordin looked down, "Shepard, meet us at next checkpoint, Cerberus likely to target-" the wall behind him was destroyed as Cerberus shuttle appeared with two troopers opening fire on the pod and the team. Mordin recovered for the blast as the pod moved out of the line of fire, "Hurry! Next checkpoint!"

"Copy all squads: I have the krogan in sight. She's in transit, heading up to the next level. Target Bravo has also been sighted moving to the checkpoint. All squads converge."

Mandalore waited to hear all of that from Cerberus before he used the DC-17's anti-armor attachment to kill the two troopers after hearing all of that. "Come on, they aren't done yet."

* * *

Back on the _Normandy_, Pyth was busily working to translate the plans, bothering Javik for more information. "This symbol here, in your opinion would you say it was meant to mean, 'derivative' or is it supposed to be 'inhibitive'?"

"I don't know! It looks like both to me."

"A derivative inhibitive? How perplexing…"

"You understand our written language, why do you insist on bothering me?"

Pyth held the datapad she was writing on against her chest, slowly darting her eyes to his four, "Because despite having studied insectoid languages, an endoskeletal species was rather rare among your classification, especially when they are visible exoskeletal characteristics." Pyth took another look over the plans, "What I don't completely understand are all of the notes. You'd think a species developing a weapon to destroy the Reapers would know what they were doing but this…" Pyth rushed out of Javik's room, racing back up to the elevator to use T'Soni's computers.

Pyth inserted her research into one of the monitors as she started to display them on other monitors. "Pyth, what are you doing?"

"I think I might be uncovering a disturbing truth." She was breaking the device down into its various components, using the Prothean notes and a bit of imagination on her end.

With the device broken down to its various components, Liara attempted to understand what she was attempting. "I don't see it. What are we doing?"

"I believe I just proved this weapon is not Prothean in origin. Or at least roughly 96% of the design. You see, these notes I've been working on for so long to understand are translation notes, not unlike my own where I would scratch out or overwrite some prior notions. Oh…the implications…then that would mean other cycles also fought back, just as the Protheans did 50,000 years ago and we are now." Pyth turned to Liara, "I think this information should stay within this room. If word broke that this device could potentially have been built by previous cycles, I imagine galactic moral would plummet considerably, if not pitfall."

* * *

The fighting on Sur'Kesh was getting more intense as Shepard and team killed another squad of Cerberus troopers before finding Major Kirrahe killing a Cerberus soldier in hand to hand combat. "Commander, stay back! Hostiles just down the hall."

"Is there an easier way around?"

Kirrahe reloaded his weapon, "You could say that."

Kirrahe jumped out of cover, firing his white pistol at a group of three Cerberus soldiers. He fired three shots for each, and each shot was an active grenade as they stuck to their targets before detonating. "How do not I have one of those?"

Mandalore readied his weapon, "If you want Garrus, I'll give you a few spares we have."

"Go, Commander! I'll cover you!"

As Kirrahe grabbed an assault rifle and moved to cover, a combat engineer rushed out as he placed down a turret, "Orion Squad, your orders are to hold position and block access to next checkpoint. Termination of Target Bravo is secondary."

Mandalore stopped Shepard from moving up, "I'm going first. I want to test something."

Mandalore activated his omi-tool as he rushed out of cover and directly into the line of fire. One of the Cerberus soldiers shouted, "Target Bravo is on the move!" the turret opened fire on Mandalore, however it was just a hologram.

As Shepard looked around the corner, Mandalore reappeared behind cover as he dragged a Cerberus trooper over and jabbed his vibroblade into his neck. Garrus tossed an Overload tech mine, disrupting the turret's shield, allowing James to use a Carnage blast to create a tech burst that destroyed it and stunned a few nearby troopers. Mandalore tossed a grenade at their feet, killing the lot of them as Shepard used a sniper rifle to kill a Guardian through the slit in his shield.

With this level cleared Mandalore moved to the nearby scanner, ready to move up. As they moved through the small passageway, James turned to Garrus, "That Mordin guy was right. Cerberus knew we were coming. Why else would they be here?"

Garrus just shrugged it all off, "Every war has its traitors."

"Yeah…" Mandalore turned back to the two, "and I think I know the bitch behind it all."

Shepard paused just to turn to Mandalore, "You're not thinking the dalatrass is behind this?"

"Why not? The delayed notice to the base of our arrival, the skirting of STG perimeters, unauthorized messages sent from within the base, Cerberus' unusually timed arrival, targeting me as 'Bravo'. You don't tag a Bravo unless you have an Alpha, and only the salarians knew only one female survived, let alone were here to begin with. Bev, Prath…" Mandalore tapped the side of his helmet, stopping himself when he remembered he wasn't with his ship.

Garrus grabbed Mandalore, "You alright?"

"Yeah, just remembering Prath is with the others and Bev is teaching students for the Alliance. If I had them here I'd have them back track Linron's communications or something to prove she's behind this." Mandalore did look back to where they left Kirrahe, "But I think I have other options, like Dalatrass Narra."

* * *

Using the _shuk'oroke_ to their advantage, Aay'han and the team on Sanctum eliminated the last Cerberus personnel on the site. With free-range of the labs, the team started to carefully scourer the systems for intel. Tishad was disgusted at one of the projects she found, "Bastards! 'Will only lead to medi-gel advances for Hanar.' And they call it a failure!"

Aay'han found logs from one C. Talavi before and after his 'integration' into Cerberus. "Gab that data, Huerta or one of the other hospitals could use it. Forta, any luck on the artifacts?"

"Nabbing number four as we speak. The box is full and I've grabbed a lot of notes left behind by Cerberus."

"Good. Zelon, status?"

The salarian's helmet was tracking several heat signatures throughout the facility, easily distinguishing friends and foes, "We've got plenty of movement, but nothing to suggest they know anything's wrong here. That doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend getting our asses out of here ASAP."

Aay'han finished leaving Cerberus a goodbye present. "_Gev traat'aliit_!" The Mandalorian shuttle arrived to pick them up. With the team set, Aay'han grabbed a detonator from his belt and waited for them to get further before he pressed the button. Aay'han strategically placed four explosives against different fuel line junctions. The explosion put Cerberus in utter chaos attempting to contain the flames and giving them the chance to leave without worrying about Cerberus chasing them.

* * *

**A/N: **I always had issues with that N7 mission, grabbing Reaper tech without some kind of special container or something to prevent the possability of indoctrination, the number of artifacts we leave behind and how we couldn't stealth kill everyone when we arrive. But oh well, game mechanics and blah.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

shuk'oroke(shoo-KOH-rokeh)- crushgaunts

Gev traat'aliit!(gehv TRAHT-ah-LEET)- Pack it up team!


	11. The Grissom Academy of Hard Knocks

**A/N: **With confirmation that the DLC starts after the Cerberus coup, I don't have to slow down as I expected.

* * *

Finishing the last Cerberus soldier in the area, Shepard moved over to Mordin, "Shepard, you must authorize release. Pod then transfers to loading area." Shepard did as the female's container was raised and mechanical arms moved to transfer the pod.

"_Shepard, heads up! You've got incoming!_" Wrex quickly shouted. Suddenly something landed onto the landing pad, it was a Cerberus combat mech with a pilot at its controls. Everyone was in awe for a moment while the mech's weapon arm loaded to attack, forcing the team to cover. "_Shepard! I can't land until you deal with that thing! It's too dangerous!_"

The Cerberus soldier moved the mech to a better firing angle on the containment pod, "Krogan has been acquired."

Mordin tried to exit kicking the door in his attempt to assist, "Door is damaged! Can't get out!"

Shepard moved to a better position as the mech continued to move, "Stay clear! We've got this!"

Mordin took cover as best as he could, "Protect the krogan, Shepard! She's vulnerable!"

Garrus readied his sniper rifle, "That's some serious firepower. Maybe we can crack it open."

"Maybe we should do it quick!"

"Shit…last one…" Mandalore threw his hand to his pack as a grenade rolled out from the slot at the bottom. "Droid popper!"

The grenade landed beneath the mech and as James was about to rush to attack it, Garrus stopped him. "What the hell? Why are we waiting?"

After a few moments the grenade released an EMP that disabled the mech and its shield. Garrus raised his sniper rifle and fired on the canopy, "That's why. Time to crack the nut!"

Unable to defend itself, Shepard and the squad relentlessly attacked it until there was a system overload. The canopy was jammed as explosions started to spread until it finally detonated. "_Shepard, I think you did it. Looks clear from here. I'm coming in now._" Mandalore used his vibroblade to force the door open for Mordin as he moved over to the containment pod. Mordin gently offered his hand to assist the female down from her restrains until Wrex pushed him aside to offer his hand instead. "Let's get you out of there."

The female was covered head to toe in a lavish blue garb as she walked herself out without Wrex's aid. With everyone else preoccupied by her, the female noticed the Cerberus troops that managed to get behind them. She quickly pulled the shotgun out of Wrex's hand and fired on the closest one. Before she could reload and fire a second time, Mandalore's hologram dissipated next to Shepard as he reappeared behind the Cerberus solider and jammed his vibroblade into his back. The female pushed the shotgun back to Wrex, "I can handle myself, Wrex."

Wrex turned back to Shepard as he nonchalantly shrugged, "Women."

As Wrex and the female entered the shuttle, Mandalore didn't need the soldier alive as the blade's ultrasonic vibrations were starting to have an effect on his vital organs. Before he could utter a word, his blood filled mouth gurgled before he fell lifeless. Mandalore pulled his helmet off trying to find something either in the helmet on the man's head. Finding nothing in the helmet, he rammed his fist into the back of his skull, rummaging through before ripping out what he wanted, an implant data chip. "Once Bev gets his hands on this, we'll get our answers."

* * *

Back on the _Normandy_ Wrex wasn't content with just having the female, he wanted the cure for the genophage given to all of his people before krogan forces stepped foot on turian soil to give relief. As Shepard spoke with Wrex and Victus about their other concerns, Mandalore was mentally speaking with Pyth, _So the weapon wasn't built by the Protheans?_

_From my understanding, no. The design has the psychological profiles of several different species, including but not excluding, reptilian, aviary, aquatic and mammalian. The Protheans were just the latest in a long line of species to have found the plans.__ Who the original designers were, well it's hard to speculate at this point._

_You made the right call about not informing the galaxy. Let's just hope this Catalyst thing is really all that has been missing from the previous attempts. If not we can always go out in a blaze of glory taking as many of them with us._

_Yes, well excuse me, but I wish to speak with my favorite scientist salarian._

* * *

Shepard walked into the _Normandy_'s medbay to find Pyth, Mordin and Eve, the krogan female as dubbed by Mordin. "Aware krogan females find scares attractive. Garrus loyal, reasonably intelligent. Bit aggressive. Almost like krogan."

"For the third time, Doctor. I'm not interested."

Pyth was the first to turn to him, "Commander Shepard, we were just," before she could say Wrex and Mandalore joined them.

Wrex quickly moved to Eve's side, "Are you okay?"

Eve calmly turned to Wrex, "I'm fine, Wrex. You can relax."

Wrex slowly turned to Mordin, "You can't be too careful…or put any faith in salarian doctors."

"This one is different."

"Is he?" Wrex was skeptical of Eve trust in him, as he noticed Mordin drawing blood from Eve, "What's that?"

"Simple blood test."

"What kind?"

"Kind that ends the genophage." Mordin walked back to a station, "Shepard, please. Distractions counterproductive. Also affecting comfort of patient."

"He was your inside source, Wrex. He's taken a lot of risks just to do that." Even though Mandalore hadn't work with Mordin for long, he was willing to put faith with a former member of Shepard's crew.

Wrex had one too many confrontations to believe that, "Salarians have minds like a maze. You never know when they're leading you into a trap."

"It is true," Pyth nodded as she looked to Mordin, "Sometimes it's like a college dorm in there, unless you know where to look it nothing but a mess."

"Fascinating, will inquiry later." Mordin then turned back to Wrex, insulted by prior remarks, "Trap? Eve's release my doing. Would never have known about her if not for me."

"That was then, but she's out now. And if she gets hurt, I'll feel it."

"Understand. But my patient. My responsibility. Her welfare a priority. Will not allow her to be compromised by anyone."

Wrex was silent for a moment before he let out a small laugh, "You've got a quad, Doctor. Keep her safe. Our females have endured enough."

As Wrex was leaving, Mordin called back to him, "Don't forget. Still need your tissue sample."

Wrex stopped, nearly shuttering at the thought, "I'll be back."

With Wrex gone Mordin quickly muttered, "Common phobia, fear of needles."

Shepard couldn't help but feel it was something else, "Or salarian doctors."

"Now have work to do. Prefer females of the species."

* * *

With Wrex temporarily appeased, Shepard had the Normandy return to the Citadel just so he and Mandalore could check on Ashley's status. She was fairing rather well, though the news of the death of her youngest sister's husband slightly soured the visit.

After completing their business on the Citadel Shepard pursued the anomalous turian signal detected by Specialist Samantha Traynor about the Jon Grissom Academy evacuation. As the _Normandy_ entered the system they found out why, "And there's the folks who answered the distress call. Cerberus cruiser. At least a dozen fighters on blockade duty. Too many for us in a straight up fight. They must want this place bad."

Mandalore started cracking his knuckles, "Those bloody fierfeks are dead!" rushing off to the hangar.

"Receiving incoming transmission."

"Let's hear it."

EDI patched it into the cockpit's speakers, "_SSV Normandy, this is Kahlee Sanders, director of Grissom Academy. We need immediate assistance. Cerberus is attack the facility. They're after my students._"

"This is Commander Shepard. We're blocked on a direct approach."

"_I know. They've taken control of our docking bays._"

"Any alternatives?"

"_There's an auxiliary cargo port I could probably open._"

"All right. We'll come in by shuttle and get your students out of there." Shepard turned to their pilot, "Joker, can you give me a diversion?"

"Oh boy, can I!"

With that Javik, Mandalore and EDI were with Shepard in the shuttle as the _Normandy_ drew Cerberus' attention away from the station. As they entered the station Kahlee called out to them, "_Commander, I'm locked in a server room around the corner. Cerberus troops are trying to get in._"

The squad got to cover as Mandalore opened the door. They found four Cerberus soldiers attempting to open a door, "Get ready! I've almost got the door." As it opened the two were killed by a shotgun and Mandalore killed one with his sniper rifle. He was forced to cover as Javik used his biotics to slam him around the confined space.

Shepard moved closer to the door, keeping away from the opening, "Sanders, we're clear. It's me."

Opening the door, Shepard walking in as Kahlee kept her shotgun at the ready, just as a precaution. Once confirmed she lowered her weapon, "Commander, thank you. Admiral Anderson always said you were the best. And with Cerberus coming for my students, I need the best."

"How many of you are there?"

"Fewer than twenty." Kahlee walked over to the nearby terminal, "Most were sent home when word of the Reaper invasion spread." EDI and Javik went back out into the hall to secure it as Mandalore walked in, "But a few volunteered to stay. Some are prototyping tech for the Alliance. Others are biotics. They've been training for military operations, working together as biotic artillery."

"And Bev?"

Kahlee turned, "I'm sorry Mandalore, but since the Cerberus attack we've been unable to communicate with anyone. I'm not sure if he's alive or not."

* * *

Even as the _Normandy_ continued to evade the Cerberus fighters, Mordin started to sing a song requested by Eve as they awaited one of the blood cultures to react, "Oh, better to die to a thresher maw, with shotgun-blasting-roaring-raw, than to play ambassadorial games, with the blood of Shiagur in her veins…"

Pyth joined in after studying the song for a bit, "Off to fight, since turians can't, with diplomats instead of a krantt. But she'll be true to Tuchanka's dream, and live and die a krogan queen!"

Now the two were singing together, "For…she is the krogan queen! Hurrah, hurrah for the krogan queen! And it is, it is a glorious thing to be the kroooogan queeeeeen!"

Eve was smiling thanks to the duet as Mordin turned back to the culture sample and Pyth looked around the lab, "Do you think we could sing one of the pitter-patter songs later, professor?"

Mordin took the sample to the next test, "Yes, would be a nice change of pace. Any disagreements?" turning back to Eve.

"Not at all. As long as you two promise to sing that song again."

Mordin nodded, "Once test complete."

* * *

After saving two kids and disabling Cerberus' control over the PA system, Shepard and Mandalore managed to make their way to Orion Hall as Cerberus was moving in on student before someone shouted, "Students, tech attack number seven!"

A Cryo Blast was sent from the upper level, snap freezing one of the troopers before a Concussive Shot was fired and created a cryo explosion that snap froze the others. From behind the pillar Bev rushed out with his force pike fully extended as he smashed two frozen soldiers where they stood, finishing the third with his vibroblade to shatter the statuette. "Bev!"

"Sir?" Before they could reunite they heard one of the Cerberus mechs as it tried to squeeze its way into the hall.

A woman in a black leather jacket and pony tail rushed over and created a biotic bubble to take the mech's cannon fire to protect one of the students. "Jack?"

She couldn't offer Shepard a proper greet as she stood with Bev at her flank ready to attack, though the metal fatigue was starting to accumulate on her as the mech now properly standing prepared to attack again. Before it could an explosion knocked its arm off aim, Mandalore used the anti-armor round to draw his attention away from them so Jack and Bev could get the kids to the upper level. "Everyone, get down! This thing's outta your league! Shepard, keep it off us!"

The mech was completely focused on Mandalore now as Shepard and EDI moved around it. Javik's particle rifle made quick work of the shield, giving Mandalore another shot at using the anti-armor round to do some damage. From behind Shepard tossed a grenade into the mech's exhaust port. The grenade went into the exhaust managing to slide its way inside to maximize the carnage. When it detonated within the mech it started a chain reaction that vaporized the pilot and left the controls charred before the explosion reached the power cells which caused the mecha suit to explode rather violently.

The students had created a biotic field around the room and Bev locked the doors in an attempt to keep Cerberus out. "Get ready! More on the way!" The door to their left opened as Cerberus soldier rushed out attempting to knock down their barrier. Javik grabbed one of the soldiers with his biotics before slamming him down the stairs. EDI used tech attacks as Shepard and Mandalore finished them off as they were in a fiery panic.

With the area clear, the barrier dropped as Jack started to laugh, "Kahlee said she was putting out an SOS. I had no idea the King of the Boy Scouts would show up." Jack quickly turned back to some of the students, quickly changing her happier tone to something more authoritative, "All right, amp check! Prangley, those fields were weak. Cerberus isn't gonna lie down out of pity like that girl you took to prom." Prangley seemed bitter about the comment as a girl behind him pushed him playfully. "Grab juice and an energy bar. We move in five." Bev on the other hand was gentler with the others, tending to a few injuries before departing to speak with Mandalore. Jack took the more direct route, jumping down and using her biotics to soften her landing. She quickly marched over to Shepard, socking his jaw, "That was for leaving, dumbass." She quickly grabbed him as the two started to kiss, and some of the students started hoot and cheer.

"I turned myself in to the Alliance, Jack."

"Yeah, and how'd that work out for you? Did they listen?" She waited for a moment to see Shepard lower his head, "Didn't think so. You could've stayed. Instead you decided to go play solider."

Mandalore walked over, "Looks like you're playing the same game."

At first she scoffed at him, though she slowly looked up to the students, "Yeah, I guess so."

Shepard however approved, "I can't think of anybody who could care about them more."

"Well, I had some free time while you were off being playing hero. Alliance brass knew I helped you. They offered me this," leaning back as she shouted, "and apparently the students responded well to my teaching style."

Prangley was the first to shout back, "The psychotic biotic!"

"I will destroy you!" a girl quoting Jack as she gripped her fist.

"Drink your juice, Rodriguez. You couldn't destroy wet tissue paper."

"_Cortez to extraction team. The Cerberus cruiser is coming back._"

Shepard took a few steps back, trying to keep this from the kids, "How long have we got?"

"_Two minutes tops, Commander. After that, there's no way we'll get past them._"

Shepard looked back, seeing the students were still recovering from the last assault. "Get out of here and back to the Normandy. We'll find another way off the station."

"_Roger that. Good luck, sir._"

Mandalore took Bev over for a moment to talk privately. "Status."

"A mess, sir. Cerberus took us completely by surprise. The cruiser sent in _laamyc iviin_ _jare beskar'ade_ to disable our long range sensors and comms. Then they destroyed all outer defenses before deploying troops to override the systems. Jack and I gathered what students we could and were looking for a way off."

Mandalore looked up, "Kahlee mentioned you had less than twenty people onboard. What's your headcount here?"

"Including Jack and myself, we have eleven. We're still missing a few heads; Octavia, Isaac, David, Honaker, and the Bellarmine siblings."

Mandalore looked back, "We saved two Bellarmine, don't know if you knew more. Honaker, I'm sorry we couldn't save her. And I don't know who this is."

Mandalore forwarded Bev the vid he captured from his helmet of someone being dragged away by Cerberus soldiers. "That was Froeberg. He locked one of the doors trying to buy us some extra time. But as you could see…"

"Yeah, I warned the Alliance to allow you to work on the station's systems to prevent this kind of shit from happening, but they didn't want you to mess with anything." Mandalore looked over to Shepard having given Kahlee camera access and speaking with Jack. Mandalore tapped Bev's shoulder, "Get ready, looks like we're about to move out."

Shepard forced the door opened, "Everyone be ready. We'll go in first and draw their fire."

As the students gathered Jack shouted, "We'll shadow you from the second floor and hit those fu… those guys from above."

Bev readied his weapon, "And I'll provide covering fire for everyone."

Shepard noticed her unusual behavior though it wasn't something he wanted to point you just yet. EDI look back, analyzing the station's schematic, "A good strategy that protects the students from direct fire."

"Just time your shots and stay safe."

Jack took Shepard's advice even further, "All right, I didn't bust my ass training you so you could die now. Keep low, pick your targets."

"_Students of Grissom Academy, the station is sealed._" The student's omni-tools were receiving the Cerberus message, "_The Alliance cannot save you. All they can do is get you killed. Surrender peacefully, and you won't be harmed._"

Jack blew it off, "Asshole."

"_Damn it. They're messaging everyone._" Kahlee quickly got to them, "_Students, switch your omni-tools to privacy mode so they can't track you._"

The students did, though doubt was starting to befall the group as one of them vocalized it, "What if…what if they're not lying?"

Shepard looked back to the students, "You've already held your own against Cerberus. You've been trained for this by one of the best."

Jack followed his example, "Come on, Rodriguez. They're only asking nicely 'cause you scared 'em in that last fight. So take your balls outta your purse and kick some ass."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mandalore readied up, "Good, let's show them why they're gonna regret attacking this station."

* * *

**A/N: **Well I got one of the two new tanks I wanted in ME3's multiplayer, now just to get lucky and get the geth prime. The student count always seemed off to me, so I threw in a few extra heads with Jack and Bev.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

laamyc iviin jare beskar'ade(LAH-meesh ee-VEEN JAH-ray BES-kar-AHD-ay)- high speed kamikaze droids


	12. Student Reprieve

**A/N: **Kinda my way to kick off the DLC, it looks like it will be interesting.

* * *

Aay'han couldn't help but feel like he was back on Coruscant before the power generator bombing that prolonged the Clone Wars. The Citadel acted as though they were safe from the Reaper threat, but having seen the Collector base and some of the things they were capable of, he knew in his heart this place was about as safe as any of the other worlds currently under siege by the Reapers. This threat wasn't going to blow over, everything this galaxy knew will forever be changed.

* * *

Cutting through a portion of Cerberus' forces, the team managed to get everyone through, however Rodriguez took a shot to her arm. Continuing onward Cerberus was getting desperate now, "_Damn it, all units fall back to the shuttle bay!_"

Mandalore smiled, "Sounds like we're ruining his day."

As the next door opened, Mandalore stopped Shepard as he slowly crept forward. Soon voices could be hear, "That's an impressive barrier, Octavia. Our file says you're been working on shield technology."

"It's a handheld multicore solution based on cyclonic barrier technology, jackhole. And it's pronounced Oc-tah-via." Three students were inside the barrier as two Cerberus soldiers were attempting to bring them out.

"Why don't you come on out peacefully?"

"Why don't you bite me?" Mandalore liked her already. He signaled Shepard up and to have his sniper rifle ready.

"Your cousin, Joanna is already on the shuttle, Octavia. Don't you want to make sure she's safe?"

"Bring her here."

"What?"

"Bring her here so I can see her, you damn liar! You think I'm gonna take your word for it?" With the two heads in sight, Mandalore and Shepard killed them simultaneously before they realized what had happened. As Shepard got out of cover, Octavia kept the shield and her omni-tool at the ready, "I don't know who you are, but stay back!"

"I'm Commander Shepard with the Alliance. I'm here to help."

"I didn't buy it from the last guy, and I've got no reason to buy it now." However it wasn't until she spotted Mandalore did her attitude change, "Beviin? Is that you, sir?"

"Nope, but you're close. I'm Mandalore." He took his helmet off to show how similar in appearance he was to him though, "I'm sure he's talked about me to his students, especially to a spitfire like you." After putting his helmet back on he tapped the side, "Bev can you hear me?"

"_Yes sir,_" Mandalore had routed his comm so Octavia and the others could hear this one.

"We've found Octavia and two other students. Think you can get her cousin on the comm for a bit?"

There was a long pause there but soon his helmet had a young girl's voice, "_Octavia?_"

"Joanna?" Octavia was in shock, uncertain if it was real.

"_Octavia! Beviin and Jack are keeping use all safe from Cerberus. I can see the shuttles and Kahlee now! Where are you?_"

"I…I'll be there soon. Just wait a little longer." Octavia deactivated her omni-tool as the other two deactivated the device creating the barrier.

Mandalore nodded, "I'd expect nothing less from any of Beviin's students. Now they're on the upper levels heading to the shuttle bay. Stay close and we all get out of here."

"Okay. Uh, thanks," feeling slightly embarrassed that she made a bit of an ass of herself.

As Octavia and the younger boy left with the shield generator, the bald young man stayed. "The square root of 906.01 equals…"

"30.1."

"Hello, Commander Shepard."

EDI smiled, "He looks much healthier."

"I remember you. The Normandy computer." David Archer looked down for a moment, "Sorry."

"No apology is necessary," sympathetic to his situation when they first encountered one another.

Shepard looked as Octavia and the other boy stopped to wait for David, "Has Grissom Academy been all right?"

"Yes. I've been counting."

"Anything in particular."

"The number of days you lengthened my life." David looked behind himself, "The security office. I hacked the lock. Guns. Lots of guns. Goodbye." With that he joined the others.

Mandalore was the first inside the office, grabbing the grenades for his anti-armor attachment. Shepard grabbed the Mattock upgrades and thermal clips before they continued. As EDI opened the next door, Shepard found something interesting on one of the terminals, "Looks like schematics for amp interfaces. Not as good as what we already have, but still worth a look."

Mandalore took a look, "I think there was an asari back at Huerta Memorial trying to get her fingers on these. I could be wrong."

As they continued they found an Atlas mech, unmanned, as one of their engineers was doing maintenance, unaware of his surroundings. Javik took a blade he had hidden within his armor and stabbed the blade through the man's skull. As he pulled the dagger out they could hear his comm activate, "_They're at the shuttles! Do not let them escape!_"

Mandalore stopped and was going over the mech, "Shepard, want a turn at the wheel? I think it's only fair since I got to control the one on Eden Prime."

Shepard took the mech as Mandalore took lead. They found Jack and Bev on the upper level holding off Cerberus troops. "There's the shuttle! Head over two by two! Prangley, Rodriguez, stay close!"

Now all they had to do was keep Cerberus off them long enough for the students to reach the shuttles. With the initial wave dealt with Jack spotted the next wave, "Shepard, watch your ass!"

Bev was already sniping them before they could jump down. Javik used his biotics to slam a number of them as Shepard used the Atlas to their full advantage. "Commander, right flank!"

EDI was already holding that side, using Overload tech mines to slow them down long enough for Shepard to move to that side. From behind them Guardians moved to try and flank them, however Mandalore tricked them and killed two of them with his vibroblade and his new omni-blade to their spines.

As Shepard mopped up the last of them he spotted others, "Hostiles up top!"

"Already got them!" Bev sniped the first as Jack threw her biotics to slow them down. Javik threw a grenade to the upper level, killing two of them as Beviin killed another. This was to give Shepard the chance to move to a better position to help plow through them.

Mandalore turned back to the shuttle to check on the students but witness more troops falling in, "Watch our six, we've got more dropping by."

Shepard turned around and fired a rocket, blasting a small number of them to bits. "_The shuttles are almost ready._"

As the last trooper was dealt with an explosion occurred from the back of the area, "And it sounds like Cerberus doesn't like the fact that we're using one of their toys against them."

From the smoke of the blasted door came another Atlas mech and it was targeting the students. EDI stopped it with a tech attack as Mandalore drew its attention away from them long enough for Shepard to start attacking it. With so many attackers from different directions the Atlas was doomed the moment it tried to attack.

As it exploded Jack shouted to them, "Okay. We're clear! Move your ass before backup arrives!"

Shepard jumped out of the mech and Mandalore placed a det charge on it so Cerberus couldn't use it against them. As the team rushed over with Jack and the last students, Kahlee was finishing up, "Kahlee, how's it coming?"

EDI and Javik rushed over to the second shuttle, "Shuttles are unlocked!"

"Good," Mandalore looked back to make sure everyone was already going to a shuttle, "Bev, get ready to fly!"

Jack stopped him, looking around worried, "Wait! Where the hell's Rodriguez?"

She was back in the other room as Cerberus troops were firing on her. Rodriguez managed to slide to cover, but now she had nowhere to go. "Damn it! She went back for that bracelet!" Bev started to smack the force pike against the glass, trying to shatter it as Shepard and Mandalore helped by using the butt of their guns.

"She needs covering fire!"

"She needs more than that!" Jack moved in, forcing the trio to get out of her way as she used her biotics to blast the glass to pieces and knock the three troopers on their asses. Shepard rushed over and helped Rodriguez to her feet as Bev and Mandalore provided covering fire, killing two of them as the group fell back to the shuttle.

EDI was waiting for them before she took off, making sure both shuttles were able to get off the station. "Joker, we flew out on Cerberus shuttles. Watch your fire."

"_Right, EDI's tagged both of you on our sensors. Should just be a minute._"

Bev was now at the controls and Mandalore was with him. "Thank you, Commander. We'd have never gotten off that station if you hadn't come."

"F—forget that. We kicked some ass." Jack turned to her students, "Next place we dock, you're all getting inked. My treat. What do you guys want? Ascension Project Logo? Glowing fist? Maybe a unicorn for Rodriguez?"

"Screw you, ma'am!"

Kahlee smiled at the students, "I can't believe we got them out alive. I was going to suggest that they stick to support roles. But perhaps they're ready, after all."

Jack turned to Shepard, who was silent for a moment. "They're definitely ready…but the Alliance needs them in a support role."

"What? We trained for artillery strikes!"

"We don't need another artillery unit. We need stronger barriers for our front-line squads."

"This is bullshit!"

Even though Prangley and Rodriguez did not like it, Jack was actually relieved Shepard said that, "Hey, if that's where they need us, that's where we go. Besides, I'm sure we'll get some shots in," giving them incentive to see it as a better position.

"_Commander, we're got a visual on you now. Preparing to dock. Hey, Jack, now that's you're military, you gonna wear a uniform? Or are you just getting the officer's bars tattooed on?_"

"Screw you, f…flight lieutenant."

"_Uh…what the hell was that?_"

Kahlee smiled, "Jack promised to watch her language in order to maintain the necessary professionalism we need from our teachers."

"_What, does she have a swear jar or something? 'Cause I bet if we emptied that thing we could afford another cruiser._"

"Cover your ears, kids." Jack looked up to the speaker, "Hey, Joker, fuck you ass wipe!"

Shepard grabbed her hip, pulling her closer to himself, "Now that's the Jack I know," before the two of them started to kiss.

* * *

The _Normandy_ took a small side trip back to the Citadel just to drop off Kahlee, Jack, Bev and the students. As Shepard searched out the asari Mandalore mentioned, Mandalore used his Spectre authority to help providing housing for the younger students unable to assist with the Crucible Project. "Are you sure you can't come, Bev?"

"I'm sorry sir, I would, but…"

Mandalore looked past Bev to the students, "I understand. Vhonte would be proud. And I know they'll be safe under your care."

"I'll return to service once I know they'll be safe. I promise, Araniik."

"Good, just don't keep any of us waiting too long." Mandalore started to chuckle, "Otherwise we'll win this war without you."

"I wouldn't think of it." The two pod brothers gripped the others hand, knowing they'll fight at the others side soon.

* * *

Back on the _Tervho_, Tishad was hanging around Hideyoshi in the cockpit. "So how do you like being a Mandalorian after having so much business with them?"

"I actually owe the Mandalorians more than you think. They saved my hide some time back when they were just calling themselves a merc band. I was a smuggler and I was cutting though the Terminus to cut my time. That's when the Blue Suns boarded my ship. As luck would have it, my employer also hired the Mandalorians as added security. They had a team hidden within my ship that quickly wiped out the boarders before their ship arrived and completely decimated the Suns. So how are you tied to them?"

The drell assassin looked over some of the displays around the pilot. "It's funny, we were hired by two different groups that wanted a pack of pirates gone and intel incriminated the other. When I arrived on the planet, they were too well organized for me to infiltrate normally."

"How did you infiltrate normally?"

Tishad shrugged, "Kill a few of them for a uniform or something to blend in, or use the ducts to worm my way though. But like I said, these pirates were well organized. And it seemed that the Mandalorians had the same plans until they also saw how difficult it would be. The crazy one in orange, he proposed one of his insane ideas or plowing their way through the base. I sat back and just let them do their senseless plan, but I was going to use the confusion to grab my target. Amazingly Aran, or Mandalore now, was aware I was using them, and he was watching my back. As they wiped out the base, I went straight for the data. It was unfortunate because their boss had the same idea. I was in a bit of trouble you could say, but Prudii saved by ass, killed the leader to distract the others as the krogan and asari bitch ripped through the others. They grabbed their intel, leaving the intel I needed and a few pirates for me to deal with. We had a few more interesting encounters after that one, but you know what they say about your first," Tishad leaned against Hideyoshi's chair to tease him, "You never forget it."

* * *

Shepard took Mandalore and Javik with him on a mission to Uttuka within former rachni space. "Any updates, Shepard?"

"Our backup is waiting for us at the drop point. Aralakh Company. Krogan commandos."

"_That's correct._" EDI continued over the shuttle's radio, "_They are an accomplished unit. Their decisive action in liberating a colony from batarian pirates made them famous._"

"Good to hear. Other than that, there's been no word from a team of krogan scouts since they went through the rachni relay."

"Understandable." Mandalore and Shepard turn back to Javik, "In my cycle we used the rachni as living weapons."

"Weapons?"

"They were only animals then, without technology. Violent, but useful. When they became a problem, we burned two-hundred worlds to stop them."

Mandalore could understand from a tactical perspective, but he also knew it wasn't right. "The general would hate your kind."

"We don't know much, but no rachni activity has been reported."

"This doesn't make sense, Shepard." Mandalore had a bad feeling about this, "You gave the queen the ultimatum to disappear from the galaxy, and from the report it sounds like that queen was desperate to save her people. So why risk it all now with another war and the Reapers blowing through?"

"I don't know. Just be ready for anything." As they departed from the shuttle to meet up with the krogan team, Shepard spotted a familiar hump, "Grunt?"

"Shepard?" the young krogan pushed his way forward past two others, "Heh! Shepard!" smacking his shoulder as he laughed with joy.

Mandalore on the other hand got his own welcome, "Mandalore!"

Two of the krogan walked up to him, both had the distinct T-visor all Mandalorians had. "Jorgal, Drok. Glad to have three warriors we can count on."

Shepard turned to Mandalore, "You knew?"

"I knew they were Aralakh Company, but I didn't know Wrex was sending them to meet us here until EDI told us."

Shepard turned back to Grunt, "So what are you doing here?"

Grunt was smiling, "I could ask you the same question. Didn't those idiots lock you up?"

"They did. Put me in lockdown to keep the batarians off me. Didn't want problems with the Council while they prepared for war. But the situation changed."

"Yeah, they got bigger problems, all right. It's why I'm out here running Aralakh Company." Grunt looked back to his men, "They're tough, think they're invincible. Reckless, but effective."

Shepard was smiling, "Sounds familiar, Grunt. How did you go from being new and unproven to your own command?"

"Wasn't easy. When Wrex put Aralakh Company together he needed a leader who represented the future of our species. Thanks to you, I completed my Rite of Passage on Tuchanka and became part of Clan Urdnot. I was an equal. And being the strongest, I was chosen to lead this honored company. And I chose these two Mandalorians to fight with us."

Mandalore looked to the others, "I doubt many liked a tank-bred krogan being in charge."

Jorgal laughed, "We collected a few scars together, but we showed them what."

Shepard smiled, "You were a pain in the ass, Grunt, but if your krogan are half the soldier you are, we might make it out of here."

"Heh. Glad you're here to crack some heads, Shepard. Hard to believe this might be rachni. Seems crazy. The rachni!" fantasizing for a moment, "A chance to face the old enemy? Impossible to resist!"

Javik walked closer, "Yes, you are the one. The krogan who occupied my quarters on the Normandy. You left your mark."

"What?" Grunt turned to the Prothean with some confusion, "Who is this, Shepard?"

Javik continued, "You shouldn't be so anxious to face the rachni. They were formidable opponents, even to my people."

Grunt turned to Shepard again, who put up his hand, "Ask me later."

"Whatever you say."

Shepard however tried to curb Grunt's excitement, "We don't know if the rachni had anything to do with this. We're here to find the scouts. I didn't see any signs of activity during our approach."

"Agreed. But this place smells wrong. Like a bad wound. Our scans show the tunnels down there lead to a large central point. If we're lucky, it's a nest."

Mandalore got his weapon ready, "No heroics. We go in careful. Watch your surroundings."

Grunt just started to laugh his signature chuckle before turning back to his men, "Aralakh Company—move out!"

Drok stopped, "We've got some extra supplies. Grab anything you like and meet us at the camp just ahead."

* * *

**A/N: **I really hope the new romance scenes are going to be good, cause the group photo at the end of the trailer was something I wanted them to do for a while now.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	13. Royal Problems

**A/N: **The Citadel DLC was fun. For anyone who loved the characters of Mass Effect, I personally believe it was with it.

* * *

The _Tervho_ was summoned to Dekuuna to help begin evacuations before the Reapers arrived. "Let's keep it moving people! The Reapers are pushing fast!"

Elcor were being put into the _Tervho_'s as other ships were being packed to get off world, including many of their valued religious texts. "Come on, pack it in, we've got plenty of room."

Aay'han got the last one they could fit before having to take off to the Citadel, "Glad to see some species are evacuating worlds before they come under attack."

Prath waddled over, "We should be capable of completing two more runs here before the Reapers reach Dekuuna."

"You alright, Prath?"

"Yes…but Irune…my world…"

"They're under attack. I'm sorry." Prath walked back to the elevator, leaving Aay'han and the refugees.

* * *

As Shepard continued his mission for Wrex, Pyth was having a private discussion with Joker about an unusual topic, _So you've seen it happen before?_

_But of course. Love finds its way in many different forms, even from different species, as it were._

_Yeah, but, I mean we're talking about me and…_

_It's not unheard of, from the perspective of our galaxy. There is evidence of such relations dating back to the Old Republic roughly twenty-five thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries to invent them to be more than just the lowly class four units. But again, the individual's species also played its role in the relationship as well, psychologically of course._

_Right, and because of the Council rules kinda makes things a bit difficult…_

_You two could be the forerunners for new legislations and constitutional rights to be adhered to by a multitude of species. It would be fascinating to see a synthetically phobic society start to accept them. Their usefulness far out weights the potential dangers they are believed to pose. And most of that danger comes from the military line and those who command them. Though for more physical intimacy I would recommend whatever kind of padding to soften contact between you're weaker bones and her body, assuming she takes the top position…_

* * *

Falling into the tunnels Shepard, Mandalore and Javik encountered Reaper forces along with modified rachni. As the team pushed forward, Grunt came back on the comm, "_Shepard, we're blocked! We're getting overrun!_"

"Hang on, Grunt. We're on it!"

"_Move it, Shepard._" They found Grunt and the krogan team pinned against a wall as Reaper rachni moved in on them. Shepard was using one of the flamethrowers to burn away more pods and webbing, though Mandalore watched as Grunt went on the offensive and picked up one of the rachni and threw it into the chasm as Drok and Jorgal gave him covering fire. "I…am…krogan!"

Inside the new area Javik was the first jump down as he found the obstruction. "Reaper node ahead!"

"Come on!" Javik destroyed the node with his biotics, forcing the Reaper walls to withdraw and causing the rachni to retreat, for now. Jorgal killed an extra rachni as the others jumped down to the others.

Drok jumped down first before Jorgal and Grunt, "Thanks, Shepard. That wasn't webbing stopping us. That was Reaper tech."

Mandalore walked over, "We ran into some, too. Looks like we're making someone mad."

Grunt looked back to the tunnel they were in, "The rachni have backed off for now, but they can smell our wounds. Any worthy enemy would regroup and finish us. Soon."

"We're close, Grunt. Those barriers were protecting whatever's down that passage."

Grunt and Jorgal looked down the tunnel behind them, "We'll dig in here, kill anything that moves, buy you some time."

As the trio moved to be by their men, Shepard called out to Grunt, "Good luck."

"I don't need luck. I have ammo." Shepard smiled, seeing how much the tank-born has grown. "Krogan! Get ready!"

Mandalore had complete confidence in Grunt and his two Mandalorians, destroying a small clutch of pods before they were allowed to hatch. The team was forced to crawl through a rather tight crevice that several of the little rachni were crawling through. Shepard and Javik were the first to emerge on the other side, though the air of the chamber felt wrong, even to the Prothean. "That does not look like a rachni nest."

"Grunt, we've located the central chamber."

"_Good! We've got your back, Shepard!_"

Shepard jumped down to a small walkway. After Javik and Mandalore joined him more Reaper barriers started to burst out of the ground, "Move it!" More barriers continued to sprout as they tried to reach the center before they were boxed in, except the barriers were appearing faster than they could run. "Damn it!"

"Hell no if these bastards think they can trap us." Mandalore fired on a power node just above them as it forced the wall to their left to recede as Reaper forces were moving in on them now.

* * *

The fighting against the geth has become one-sided in favor of the quarians, however some of the Mandalorians were somewhat concerned at the relative ease. Dagger was doing a few last minute inspections of his ship when Rasen and Hioja walked toward him in the hangar of the _Idenna_. "What's the matter, ladies?"

"I think we just need to talk with someone."

Dagger wiped the grease off his suit, "Seeing how Admiral Zorah and Prudii are withdrawn for the moment, Tare is helping that Reegar fella getting your marines ready, Rang wouldn't be much help for easing troubled minds…Swoop is with Rook and Jak in combat practice…"

"Right, so what's your take on everything here?"

Dagger looked out the hangar shields as fighters were flying escort. "These geth aren't clankers, that's for sure. They're trying to keep themselves alive, but with that flash bang that admiral created, well it's like picking on a crippled kid. Personally I've never had any love for droids before C3 proved herself, but even so, these geth aren't fighting back as hard as I was expecting."

Hioja turned to Rasen who seemed to have the same belief. "Why do you believe that?"

"Well I've fought against clankers for about three years, they throw themselves into the line of fire to kill you or prevent you from advancing. They sacrifice their numbers so the overall object can be completed, at any cost. These geth though, like I said, they're trying to survive these assaults and defend themselves. I don't know what to think about them now, but I'm more concerned with when you finally push them into a corner, 'cause even a cornered nerf will fight back."

* * *

Prudii had convinced Tali to close themselves off from the rest of the fleet for just the two of them to try and relax. "Prudii…I don't feel right…we're here doing…I don't know…"

"Tali, you're overstressed. Right now all we can do is let the Flotilla continue and pray this war ends quickly. I know it's not something you want to do, but you can't command without a clear mind." Prudii activated the vid as he was using his recon droids to give them alerts of anyone coming.

The title of the vid was Fleet and Flotilla, appeared on the screen Tali became rather excited, "Prudii, you knew?"

"Knew? I just thought you might enjoy it. I wasn't sure if you had seen this one. Should I stop—"

"No! No. It's alright. I wouldn't mind watching it with you…"

Prudii took a seat as he waved her over. "Araniik has told me a leader has to be calm for those who follow, even as the gates of hell open wide."

"I looked pretty nervous, didn't I?"

Prudii had his index finger and thumb about an inch apart, "A little. So steel your nerves. We're not out of it yet. At least relax long enough to watch this, then we can return to worrying about the others."

* * *

Shepard, Mandalore and Javik fought through hordes of Reaper soldiers just to destroy two more Reaper nodes. With the fall of the last soldier the small swarmers scuttled off into the crags, "_Shepard, the rachni are backing off. Whatever spooked them won't last. Finish the job._"

"Copy that."

Shepard moved up as the barrier dropped as Mandalore continued to watch their six. As the team moved into the area they found a massive rachni chained up, unmodified by the Reapers as it was surrounded by dead krogan webbed to the walls and floor. "Si…lence…" all of the krogans uttered in unison.

Mandalore turned his rifle on one of the dead krogan speaking, "What the hell!" Shepard grabbed the rifle, lowering it. A figure, not bound by webbing started to float down from high above. It had a black cloak of some type as its back was toward them. Having now lowered itself to them the figure turned to reveal itself, "General?"

"The…maddening sour note has ceased." Lissarkh's eyes were closed yet she didn't seem to be in control over her voice as she echoed the same words as the dead krogans around her.

Mandalore pushed himself forward, uncertain what to make of the massive bug, "What are you?"

"The last queen. We listen for the children…they are silent, hollow." Lissarkh's head started to move violently as did all of the krogans, "The machines come and take them to war. They die alone, silent, far away." Her actions and speech seemed to be reflecting the emotions the queen was feeling.

Shepard moved in front of Mandalore, "The Reapers did this to you?"

"Yes. The sour note of the machines is everywhere."

Shepard demanded an explanation, "I let you go back on Noveria. You promised not to interfere anymore. The rachni were supposed to disappear."

"We remember. We kept our promise, retreated back through the relay. We started a new home." A smile broke through on Lisskarh's face, "Beautiful children. Harmony," suddenly the smile disappeared as she started to struggle, yelling, "But…the machines came. They heard our song. Their shriek of sour notes drowned us out."

Shepard felt rather sympathetic to the queen's case, "They can't hurt you anymore."

The queen seemed to have calmed down a bit now, after hearing that. "Yes, we…understand."

Mandalore however wasn't as contented, still wanting more answers from her, "What have you done to the General? Why is she here, like this?"

The queen only spoke through Lissarkh now as her head lowered as much as it could to be next to the floating Jedi, "She heard our songs. She heard as we became silent. She found us. Snuck past the hollow children. She wished to help us. Heal us. But then, they came, the old enemy who tried to silence our songs," turning her head to some of the krogan as she herself let out a roar, "They forced the machines to accelerate. Turn more of the children to machines of war."

"Can you still feel the Reapers? Can they influence you?"

The rachni queen started speaking through the krogans once more, "We hear the machines, but they cannot control us. She has ensured that," turning to Lissarkh, before looking to the Reaper node to the team's right, "Remove this last shackle and we are free." A loud shriek echoed throughout the carver as the queen became even more anxious, looking up toward the source of the sound, "The children return. They will destroy us all. Release us!" Lissarkh and the krogan screamed, though it seemed to be in fear rather than anger.

The radio came alive, "_We're getting movement here. A lot of movement…_"

"Copy that, Grunt." Shepard turned his attention back to the queen, "Are you capable of fighting the Reapers?"

"We hate the machines. We will fight for our unborn children. Release us!" pleading once again.

Mandalore used his HUD to scan the queen's body. "Shepard, she's still heavily wounded. Even with all of the healing she received from the General, she'll need too much time to escape!"

Another loud noise echoed within the cavern as more movement started heading their way, "_Shepard, we're out of time! We stay here, Aralakh Company dies! Is that clear?_"

Before Shepard could decide, the lightsaber from Lissarkh's belt as it activated and stabbed into the node, destroying the spines holding the queen in place. The lightsaber then flew over to the hole they crawled through, slicing the rocks to cause the tunnel to collapse. Lissarkh grabbed her lightsaber in her talons as her eyes opened. "Mandalore. Get everyone out of here. I will protect the queen until we are safely away. If you stay within the system, I will find you."

Mandalore nodded, "Drok, Jorgal! Order Aralakh Company to pull out! We're leaving, now!"

"_About time! Aralakh Company, get your asses back to the shuttle! Move! Shepard! We're on our way!_"

Lissarkh was examining the queen's body, helping tend to some of her injuries before the two of them started to head out. More quakes started to shake the chamber as Shepard yelled over the comm, "Grunt, get us out of here!"

An explosion opened one of the side passages and as the smoke cleared to reveal Grunt, Jorgal and Drok ready to lead the others out. As they continued to run back to the surface, an army of rachni were following, Grunt even shot one down from one of the tight walkways above, causing it to fall and die as he laughed when it landed.

Turning one of the bends, Shepard and Grunt pulled back as they spotted several more rachni waiting. With the rachni still chasing them, and this group waiting for them, Shepard readied for a fight, until Grunt looked to him, "The shuttle's down that path! We'll hold them off!"

Mandalore wasn't having any suicidal heroics, "Guys, I'm not leaving you behind!"

Drok finally shouted, "Get outta here, Mandalore!"

Shepard placed a hand on Grunt shoulder as Mandalore bumped fists with his men, "Promise you'll get out."

Jorgal and Drok nodded to him, making sure Mandalore, Shepard and the Prothean were leaving. The three krogan took a step to the open path as they all gleefully smiled, "Our turn," laughing sadistically to one another before charging into the fray of charging rachni.

The trio then let out a loud roar as Grunt started firing on anything in front of them as Jorgal and Drok killed everything on the flanks. One of the little ones jumped onto Grunt's back but Drok threw it off before it became a concern. Drok then rammed one of the rachni against a wall as Jorgal finished it with a shotgun to the face. Grunt took the liberty of blasting a rachni, kicking it to the ground and blasting it again. They continued though the rachni but they were slowly separating Jorgal and Drok from Grunt as one of them sunk up from behind to knock Grunt down, almost causing him to fall to the ground. But the young krogan wasn't finished, he was knocked to one of the dead rachni as he ripped one of the cannons off and bashed the rachni that tried to topple him, kicking one of the smaller ones out of frustration for not being able to stomp on it. Jorgal and Drok were now back to back, crushing and shooting any rachni that tried to attack them.

Grunt continued his mayhem with the cannon as a bat, bashing another rachni before he jabbed it into another one's head. A new rachni tried to attack him, but Grunt saw it, grabbing it so he could punch the sack and us its weapon against another behind him. Jorgal used the last shot from his shotgun before he broke it against a rachni's face as Drok had already destroyed his by using it to clog the cannon of one of the rachni. Now the three krogan wrecking crew rammed and bashed their way through the rachni, Grunt punched one to his left as Drok ran over it while Jorgal used his helmet to help pick another up and threw it over the edge. With little room left, the trio each grabbed a rachni as they jumped off using them to soften their landing as the rest of the rachni continued to follow.

* * *

Shepard, Mandalore and Javik found their way back as the shuttle was waiting for them. "Cortez…we're the last ones out."

"_Copy that, Commander. Shuttle is waiting._"

The shuttle lowered as the door opened with the rest of Aralakh Company waiting inside. Mandalore and Shepard were slow to enter the shuttle as something was forcing its way out of the tunnel. Aralakh Company armed their weapons before they realized what it was. "Grunt!"

"Jorgal! Drok!"

Grunt had a few new scars covering his body as Drok and Jorgal were close behind him, the three of them covered in blood from hump to toe. The three of them limped out as Shepard and Mandalore rushed to their sides. Grunt was the only one who spoke as he looked to Shepard, "Anybody got something to eat?" falling onto Shepard's shoulder due to fatigue. Mandalore was helping Drok and Jorgal as some of Aralakh Company jumped out to help bring them in.

* * *

While Shepard was reporting the situation to Admiral Hackett, Mandalore was waiting in the shuttle bay as the _Normandy_ picked up a Mandalorian IFF coming toward them. The hangar bay opened as the Mandalorian shuttle entered, piloted by the automated systems.

The shuttle opened as Lissarkh had her helmet on. Mandalore threw out his hand welcoming her, "Glad to see you safe, General."

"Please forgive my absence. I did not anticipate encountering such a pained being when I investigated the strange disturbance in the Force."

"It's just good to see you safe ma'am."

"So Red, who is this?"

Mandalore turned to James, "She's a Jedi. Just think of her like Professor Pyth, but much scarier."

James looked her over, "That's a she? Well I guess I can't argue too much after meeting Pyth. So how is she scarier than Pyth?"

Mandalore started to smirk under he's helmet, "Cause she can read minds. Not just the surface thoughts like Pyth, she can go deep into your thoughts, manipulate them if she really had too, and her fighting skills are unmatched in this galaxy."

Lissarkh raised her hand to Mandalore, "Yes, well, before I assist in any other operation or anything, I wish to nourish myself. Those aliens weren't exactly appetizing. Their nasty taste still lingers on my tongue."

"You ate krogan meat?"

"I tried some of the food the queen had, I couldn't keep it down. The krogan scouts were dead when they were brought to the queen's chamber and I only consumed enough so that my body did not completely shut down on me, roughly ten or fifteen kilograms."

Pyth quickly rushed out of the elevator in a panic with piles of papers and a few datapads in hand. "Ah, greetings Lissarkh. Please excuse me, I am off to the Crucible Project. I'm so excited!"

"I can see that." Mandalore helped her as he gathered some of her papers that were flying around, "I'll assume it's because of the rachni."

"Yes," Pyth entered the Mandalorian shuttle, "but also due to the fact that communications are starting to become rather unreliable to relay my translations to them. And I'm probably one of the few who could properly commune with the rachni workers to facility easier communication with them and Alliance personnel. Oh, to be speaking with a new species through telepathy alone, I'm so ecstatic!"

Mandalore loaded her stuff into the shuttle, "And you do have the coordinates for where the Crucible Project is, right?"

Pyth nodded, "But of course." She sifted through her work, "Dr. T'Soni has given me the coordinates in this OSD to input into a shuttle. And I trust a Mandalorian shuttle to be capable of drawing less attention than an Alliance shuttle, no offense to the Alliance crewmen here."

* * *

**A/N: **The Citadel DLC has everything we wanted for a final goodbye, and then some. The party was the best part of the entire thing. I would recommend experiencing it yourself.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	14. Crash Course

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait everyone, another story of mine has been occupying my mind, plus the others I have to keep up with, so it's back and forth, back and forth, seesawing every which way.

* * *

Even as the shuttle took her to an undisclosed location, Pyth couldn't care where she was as she was overly excited to be working so many brilliant minded individuals, though she was excited about was learning about the rachni and acting as an intermediate for the Alliance. Even as the Mandalorian shuttle was accepted with relative ease, Alliance security seemed rather jumpy when they had rifles pointed at her face when she disembarked. An older human in an admiral's uniform and a few scars on his face arrived to greet her personally. "I'm sorry about the security. When Mandalore sent me your dossier I was a bit skeptical to believe everything he said. I take it that you'll be able to communicate with the rachni."

"Doctor T'Soni believes so, and if a Jedi can commune with their queen directly then I can more than likely commune with her daughters."

The older gentleman turned to the viewport as a group of alien ships arrived, "Time to see if your right." The ships arriving were very organic-looking in nature, resembling a space worth Bartokk hive or a carve Virmine asteroid in Pyth's personal opinion.

The Alliance guards quickly escorted Pyth over to the docking port before the rachni were allowed access onboard. The teams at the ports were uncertain what to expect or even if it was going to be friendly as they were told. As Pyth arrived one of the larger rachni slowly walked out of the shadows, greeting her in some unusual way, one of its tendrils extended out as it bowed its head and offered its hand to her.

Pyth however seemed to completely understand the rachni, bowing in return as she accepted the tiny arm and took the tendril in her other hand. After that the other rachni started to crawl out as the tiny green rachni quickly rushed out and started to get to work. Pyth turned to watch the rachni busy at work, "Well that's interesting…"

"What just happened? What did they say?"

Pyth turned to the admiral, "Well she introduced herself as a servant of the queen and that she and her sisters are ready to aid however possible. I answered by accepting her gestures and offer of assistance, as well as introducing myself as a telepathic interpreter between them and humans and recommended we get started right away. Well the conversation was actually far more formal and courteous. I'm just giving more of a synopsis."

The rachni got to work assembling and disassembling portions of the Crucible around them. "Hey, what are they doing?"

Pyth just stared at the rachni she conversed with first, as it looked to her and turned to the others. "I see. Well she noticed a few flaws to the original design so they are at work improving it and completing portions you missed."

"Really? Where?"

Even with the engineer's condescending tone, Pyth pulled up her own plans of the Crucible, turning back to the rachni again to get the exact points once more. "Well once they got some of the panels opened her smaller sisters spotted a number of crosswire here, here and here. A few misplaced components here, and we mustn't forget that you were still trying to complete this portion right here. They were just attempting to speed the process along."

The admiral wasn't exactly comfortable seeing rachni onboard, but with Pyth already providing a voice for them he had some woes lifted.

* * *

As Shepard continued to speak with his crew, Lissarkh was being informed about recent events by C3 as she obtained a proper meal after nearly three months of fasting. Suddenly C3 became rather bothered, slowly backing away from something in fear. Lissarkh already felt his presence, though said nothing about it. "So you are this 'Jedi' Mandalore reveres? I do not see what makes you so impressive."

He attempted to touch her, though Lissarkh moved away, keeping some distance from him, "And you are a Prothean. The last of a dead race seeking vengeance against those who made it so."

Javik was intrigued. "I do not need to read you to know your people are hunters. But your ability that mocks ours, it eludes me."

Lissarkh carefully studied Javik's form, unwilling to discuss the matter he wanted. "Insects with teeth. Unusual, but not unheard of." She closed her eyes for a moment, looking through his jumbled up memories, "Your people's ability to transfer thoughts and memories cloud your own. You are wrought with pain, and yet you cannot remember why. From what I can tell it might be for the better at the moment. However, you should be more mindful of your anger, Javik. Your quest for vengeance could lead to an untimely demise before you ever get to see it fulfilled." Lissarkh started to look to the crew, "Though your kind knew them at their primal stages, do not let such preconceptions blind you to their true potentials. And you also need to be more open minded about synthetics," adjusting herself to be between him and C3.

Javik looked to some of the humans, "The primitives and the machine? If the humans and the others prove themselves, then they will have earned it. I have yet to see anything to prove otherwise." Javik's eye then darted down toward the droid that now coward behind Lissarkh, "I would have thought one who has fought against a droid army would know better than to trust a machine like them."

"She is not like them. And if you intend to harm her, you will have to go through me first."

Though Lissarkh did not enter a combat stance, her glare was good enough. "You trust that machine too much. What if it decides to side with the Reapers?"

"C3 will not. She is one of us, and she will die to help save us if she had to." C3 confirmed though she still remained behind Lissarkh just to be safe.

"Do as you please with the machine. But I will continue to watch it and the EDI machine for treachery."

Lissarkh just watched as Javik left them to go back to his quarter and just as she was about to sit back down to continue her meal, Shepard walked over. "We never really got to speak while you were on the _Normandy_ last time."

"That was because I was only here for Mandalore and his men."

"And now?"

Lissarkh looked back to C3 as the droid rolled up to her. "I still fight to protect them, as I do for all life. These Reapers are abominations that must be stopped. And I will aid in that effort however need be. Though I believe you should more conscious of whom you call ally."

Shepard looked back, "Are you talking about Javik?"

She nodded, "Although he has been in suspended animation for 50,000 years that is no excuse for his blatant disregard of anyone who stands in his path of vengeance."

* * *

Mandalore was with Wrex as the two were talking about the mission with the rachni. "So I hear your Jedi friend cut a deal with the rachni."

"Something like that."

"You know it's her head if they get out of line again."

"I know. But if you knew Jedi, then you'd know she'd fix her mistake if it were to happen. So, any news about Jorgal or Drok?"

Wrex casually leaned back against the console, "Don't worry, we'll get those two platebrains patched up. Vren's with them now so they and Grunt will be back in the fight soon."

Mandalore nodded, "Good. Well I'll talk with you later. Shepard has requested I help with something."

"Well as long as it's not turian related, I won't complain," laughing about it.

* * *

Bev has tried to keep news about the war against the Reapers to a minimum for his students, though he has broken some of the harder news to them as a way of showing them that this war will be a bloody one and it won't be ending any time soon.

Bev continued to train his students, providing them with new ways of thinking and to become the best hackers that he could make them. He even arranged for them to work on some repetitive technical issues that C-Sec couldn't delegate to VIs with any expected results. "I still don't see why we have to do this boring debugging stuff that should be handled by tech support?"

Bev walked over to the complaining student, "With your assistance, various Citadel resources and manpower can be diverted to more essential tasks for defenses and civilian activities. That's why we're doing this, Isaac. They are also ways for you to keep your skills sharp and fine-tune, to be prepared for any situation. Cerberus caught the Alliance off-guard when they hit Grissom Academy, but it was through your training and teamwork that we held out long enough for Shepard and Mandalore to provide assistance. But we can't always rely on others to bail us out. We need to be capable of pushing our foes back and send them packing with our own abilities!"

Octavia couldn't agree more. "Do you know any techniques that we might be able to use then?"

Bev thought about that for a moment knowing some of his techniques, though effective for him, might be viewed as obsolete with an omni-tool. "Alright, I have a hack that is illegal, even in the Terminus. It will successfully hack any system without leaving any traceable evidence. The only downside will be that it takes time, how long depends on the level of security. It's recommended to only use this when you know you won't be disturbed by anything or anyone. But remember, this is a last resort tool. Under only the most dire of circumstances are you to use this."

* * *

The shuttle was set, as Mandalore, Shepard, Garrus and James moved to the site. "This crash site is a nightmare."

Mandalore looked it over, "I've seen worse. They'll be alive, assuming any enemies haven't gotten to them yet."

"EDI, try to raise Lieutenant Victus."

"_Yes, sir._"

Garrus got up, looking at the carnage from the monitors, "For a turian commander, what happened here is…let's just say the turian code is not forgiving. And that it's his son is bad for the Primarch. Promoting family without merit can bite you in the ass. What's strange is that the Primarch knows that."

"Commander. I have to land well back from the main crash site."

Shepard turned to Cortez, "That's the best you can do?"

"Yes sir, but the Reapers seem unaware of our presence. You might get the jump on them."

"All right. Set her down. Let's save this platoon." At the landing zone the team jumped out ready for a confrontation. With confirmation that the LZ was clean, the shuttle fell back to a safe distance as Shepard got on the radio. "EDI? Did you raise Lieutenant Victus?"

"_Yes, but the connection is bad._"

Mandalore continued to be on the lookout as Garrus and James moved closer, "Patch me in. This is Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. Do you read?"

"_This is Lieutenant Tarquin Victus of the Ninth Platoon. We're pinned by Reaper Harvesters and taking heavy casualties. Also, there are pockets of my men scatted along the crash trajectory._"

"I need you to fire a flare so I can find your position." The flare indicated that they were roughly thirty or so meters though the wreckage. "Got it."

"_Things get worse by the minute. My men are dying!_"

"This sounds bad. Let's move."

Garrus tapped Mandalore, "Looks worse than I feared."

Mandalore threw one of the panels over, "Could be worse. The crash could have killed them all."

Garrus nodded, though he had other concerns. "A secret turian mission on Tuchanka is especially odd. Thoughts?"

"You're the turian—you tell us."

Garrus stopped at the ladder, turning back to James, "I've got nothing Lieutenant."

Mandalore looked around at the wreckage, "All I do know is that with the turians, it means something big is up."

"Shh! See 'em?" there were three husks, all huddled around a pile of refuse.

"Quick. We don't want them to call for back up." Mandalore stopped James before he could fire on them. He pulled out a frag grenade as he grabbed a nearby rock. Throwing the rock first he caught the husks attention, looking to the corner he had hit.

Once all three were gathered around the corner Mandalore tossed the grenade, catching all three in the blast. "Nice."

"Tricks you learn from fighting tinnies. Both are just as stupid. Now let's pick up the pace."

Climbing up to the next area, Garrus spotted something new. "Escape pod. Our first casualties."

"Survived the crash just in time for a Harvester to take 'em out."

"Died in the explosion?"

"Or dragged out and chewed on by husks."

Mandalore took point as Garrus was taking tags. Mandalore stopped, signaling Shepard to take cover, "Hear that? Eyes up people." Mandalore crept over using his HUD's scanners. "I've got a visual on the situation. We've got an escape pod on the other side of a ravine. They've got enemies pinning them in a pretty tight spot. But it looks like they are unaware we're here."

Garrus got his rifle ready, "Surprise on our side for once. I like it."

"For you guys, maybe. We Mandalorians added a few new chapters to that book," getting another grenade ready for the surprise attack.

* * *

Lissarkh was meditating in the mess hall, gathering her strength so she could help in Mandalore's next assignment. As she did though one of the crew members tried to speak with her, "Uh, miss? Could I talk with you about some of your exploits? Maybe about how you know Mandalore, or what you have done when…"

"Why must you inquire about my past?"

"Huh?"

Lissarkh remained where she sat, not even bothering to open her eyes to look to him. "Your thirst for stories of grandeur and wonder are immature. Something I actually agree with the Prothean about."

"Yeah but…"

"We each have a roll to fulfill in this war. Do not let your intrigue for a war story cloud your vision, human."

"Yeah, but, a tale of heroics or maybe an inspirational story could help inspire people who are lacking the resolve to continue."

Lissarkh picked herself up, turning to the human, "Very well. If you must hear a tale, then I will entice your appetite with a tale from my time as a Jedi Knight, before I was forced into this role as a general, in a war that need not have been fought."

* * *

The _Tervho_ was dropping off the next group of elcor onto the Citadel, the crew was assisting with refugee relocation. As they were busy with that task, Nyona arrived to 'greet' them. "Hey, four-eyes were are the others?"

Aay'han found her, "What's up?"

"Aria's getting ready for her assault on Omega and she wants us on standby."

"What's the matter, couldn't message us about it."

Nyona looked around the refugee camp, especially toward a handful of humans, "Can't be too careful. I've had a few dealings with Cerberus before I became a Mandalorian. They like to have eyes and ears in a lot of places. Have Prath get in contact with our good friends and start forming a fleet. Get a message sent out to Mandalore and tell him the good news. I'm hoping to get Omega back soon, even if I'm not living there anymore."

Aay'han nodded, "I understand. Omega is your home. Hell even I still miss Kamino from time to time." Even though Nyona wasn't saying anything, Aay'han could read her. "Don't worry, Omega will be out of Cerberus' clutches soon enough."

* * *

Prudii was right about Tali needing that small time to just rest, now she was able to think clearly and use her knowledge of geth tactics and processes to protect her people. Rang had created a scoreboard for the five fleets, counting the number of kills each got. "Heavy Fleet, don't tell you guys are getting soft on me? Cause the Patrol Fleet has started to catch up in kill counts."

"_We won't be shown up by the fighters. We aren't finished yet._"

Prudii quickly cut Rang's comm channel then smacked the back of his head. "What?" Prudii just groaned at him, unwilling to explain after a few prior attempts. Instead of wasting his breath again, he left bridge to be with Swoop and Dagger in the hanger. At least until he cool off enough he doesn't want to beat Rang a few times.

* * *

"Well yes I'd agree it would be nonsensical, however the humans do wish to follow the plans exactly as diagrammed." The rachni screeched as one of her tendrils aided a sister with holding a beam in place for welding. Pyth was providing technical aid, keeping the translated plans active for them to use. _No but I understand their concerns. A fear of the unknown and what could potentially occur with the technology when they use it._

_And if we are to defeat the machines, then we must use every advantage we can achieve, including correcting their mistakes. We will not allow them to survive. Not after what they did to our songs._

Dr. Lok still couldn't help but shutter seeing the rachni at work and Pyth so willing to be in arms reach to them. "I don't understand you professor. They're dangerous."

Pyth turned to the doctor with a smile, much to the uncertainty of the humans. "She and her sisters are anything but dangerous, Doctor Lok." Pyth started to scratch the rachni she was standing next to like a cat, though fully aware that she was scratching a sentient being. "The historical record has been skewed by mental interference to their ancestors. They are only violent when absolutely necessary."

The rachni screeched, though unlike some of the other screams, this one was far gentler. Pyth nodded to the rachni, patting her back. Lok continued to keep her distance, still cautious of them. "Yes, well I can't say everyone is still comfortable with the idea of rachni working alongside them, but I have to say it's nice to have extra hands helping out."

* * *

**A/N: **I don't know about you, but seeing bugs with claws capable of tearing you to shreds would have me staying back a few feet.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	15. Past Grievances

Mandalore was drawing fire from the Cannibals to allow Shepard and James a flanking maneuver on them while Garrus dealt with the pesky Marauder trying to give armor to one of the Cannibals. Mandalore's path was blocked by another Brute, but instead of doing the logical thing and going around, he continued to charge at the Reaper creature. Mandalore barley cleared the Brute's massive claw as it tried to strike his head, sliding underneath it and leaving it a present. Mandalore jumped over the debris and grabbed a Marauder, using it as a live shield before the grenade he attached to the Brute detonated. Mandalore then turned the Marauder for Shepard and Garrus to finish, tossing the dead weight against a Cannibal. As he got to cover to join the fighting again, Mandalore received an encoded message in Mando'a from Aay'han.

The content of the messaged had Mandalore at a pause, something that the others weren't aware of. "Hey, Mandalore! Mind joining us again any time now!" He continued to read the message, pulling a Cannibal over and using his vibroblade to finish it. James fell back to cover behind the pillar, and spotted more trouble, "Here comes another one of those bad boys!"

Shepard turned to where he was pointing, a Harvester had landed and was starting to blanket the area in rocket fire. Everyone bunkered down as the Harvester continued its assault. That's when Shepard noticed a weapon nearby. It was definitely Reaper in design, but he'd never seen any of the soldiers using anything like it. There was only one shot in the strange, almost geth-like, weapon, so he aimed it at the Harvester while it was assaulting the turians.

There was a charge he had to do before it fired, but once it hit, the Harvester was utterly obliterated and its remains started to be eaten away by the blast. Garrus kicked the last Marauder down before putting a round into its skull. "Area secured."

With the fighting stopped, the turians were tending to their wounded and dead. "Lieutenant Victus?"

The turian who responded was rather younger than most of his men, something both Garrus and Mandalore took notice of. He jumped down to speak with them in person, "Commander Shepard, my men and I are in your debt. Thank you for saving so many."

"What happened here?"

One of the other turians jumped down, quickly walking over to Victus and grabbing him by the collar of his armor, "He screwed up!"

The Lieutenant wasn't intimidated however, "Stand down, soldier!"

"These men are dead because of him!" the turian was ready to rip off one of his mandibles, or worse.

"I said, stand down!"

Shepard stepped in, forcing the two aside, "Hey! I just saved all of your asses, so everyone just calm down!" the soldier walked back as the remaining survivor had gathered not far away. "Lieutenant, what's going on here?"

He looked down, away from Shepard for a moment, "I made a bad call. This is all on me. I chose caution and clever tactics over a head-on attack—and my men paid the price."

"You mean the crash?"

"Yes. We could see on holo that Reaper forces were blocking our intended path—staying on-course guaranteed heavy casualties. So I chose a safer route, skirting the enemy, and that took us low and through these ruins. When we encountered resistance, there was no room to maneuver. Suddenly, we were in the fight for our lives. A lot of my men lost that fight."

Shepard understood what Victus was trying to do, "Owning your mistake takes guts. But you have to get over it and move on."

"Of course…it's just fresh right now. Our mission's still a failure. When we've stabilized the injured, we'll head back to the fleet."

Mandalore now joined the conversation, "That's not very turian."

Victus didn't know who he was, chastising him for his remark, "We're down over thirty men. It'd be suicide."

Shepard calmed Victus down, "What exactly did you come here to do?"

With a collected breathed, he looked away from Mandalaore, "There's a bomb on the planet. We were sent to defuse it."

"A bomb? How big?"

"Enormous. Cerberus has it."

"Lieutenant, if Cerberus has that bomb, you have to finish your mission."

"Haven't these men scarified enough?"

Shepard placed a hand on Victus' shoulder, remembering Akuze, "I understand. This kind of sacrifice is the hardest to ask for, but your men signed on for it, and so did you."

"My men have lost hope, Commander. Even if I wanted to finish the mission, they don't."

Mandalore poked Victus, "As a leader, it's your job to make them want to."

"How?"

Mandalore was reminded of what the Kaminoians and Vhonte drilled into him and his brothers. "By reminding them how their sacrifices will be the difference between victory and defeat. And if you abandon your mission now, you and your men are spitting on the graves of your fallen comrades."

Victus thought about Mandalore's words, though harsh they were true and he understood them. Victus had a new resolve burning in his eyes as he moved to his soldiers, "Men! I own what happened here today, but we have to carry on!"

"No we don't." The same soldier that had grabbed Victus voiced out, turning to his comrades, "Who cares about a few dead krogan? It's over!"

"We are turian, and we will not let Cerberus succeed. Our sacrifice is the difference between life and death for this entire galaxy! Let the heroes of the Ninth Platoon be remembered for performing their duties with bravery! All right, men! Shuttles are arriving any minute—we're moving out!" Victus' words managed to give his men a renewed fighting spirit as they saluted to him and started gathering what gear had survived. "Commander?" Victus turned back, "Come with us. We're a shell of what we were—we could use the help."

"Send me the NavPoint. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. That'll give use time to do a little recon, see what we're up against."

Mandalore slapped Victus' arm in a comradely gesture, "I'll do one better. You'll have me on your team to give you some extra fire support."

Shepard stopped Victus as Mandalore left to join his men, "Victus, you have a second chance here…make their sacrifice count."

"Understood, Commander," saluting to him, "Hope to see you at the rendezvous."

* * *

Mandalore had a reason why he wanted to go with Victus other than to learn more about the mission he was on. "So, kid, tell me…"

"I'm not a child."

Mandalore leaned in to Victus, keeping their conversation in private, "Not in age, but in leadership. You're probably use to taking orders rather than dishing them out. Look, I understand you were trying to be smart and crafty like your father, but you can't try to be something you're not. If you really want to be a great leader, then you need to follow what's up here," tapping Victus' head, "just as much as you need to listen to here," pointing to his chest. "Now before we do this recon, I want more information, as I'm sure Shepard will want it too."

* * *

Shepard was hoping Garrus or Liara might have more information about this Cerberus bomb that managed to find its way to the Kelphic Valley, unfortunately neither had an answer to either. Lissarkh was waiting for Shepard just outside of the lounge where Garrus and Liara were discussing a few things. "Oh, hey. Sorry, but Mandalore isn't here."

"I am aware of that. He sent me a message though C3. I sense the turian known as Victus is deeply troubled with events that transpired long before the conception of his grandparents. I wish to request my personal involvement in the next mission that concerns the turians."

Shepard remembered the few times he had actually seen her in combat, and he knew he could use such abilities against Cerberus. "Alright. Let me check on Adams and Javik first."

She bowed to Shepard, "I will await you and your turian companion in the hangar. I have no doubts you would seek insight from one of their own," she then walked off to the elevator, ready for battle.

* * *

Back on the Citadel, Bev was hard at work to carefully decipher a Cerberus intel chip Mandalore had passed on to him. Due to the sensitivity of it and its potential content, he continued this work in private, away from the eyes of his students. So far with little success, but with persistence and a handful of other Cerberus keys, he'd find the right decryption algorithm to unlock its secrets. Bev then thought about one of their missions that uncovered these Cerberus decryption keys, he then changed one of the algorithms just slightly to make a new key, a test to see if his theory was right.

Interestingly enough it worked as the data was starting to reveal itself to him. With full access he started poking around the data, finding a video file hidden among the many entries. He quickly put his helmet on so only he could listen to the audio. The recording started out from the perspective of a soldier, a Cerberus trooper in a Kodiak as his commander went over mission specs.

"_The mission is green. Our primary target, Alpha, is a fertile krogan female. Eliminating her is a priority one objective. She dies no matter what it takes. Target Bravo, Mandalore, is a secondary objective and should only be engaged once target Alpha has been terminated._"

"_Sir, what about the base itself? It's an intel rich site._"

"_Once elimination of both Alpha and Bravo we are to remove any remaining salarian resistance, including the ones helping us get onsite. The Illusive Man wants every piece of data we can get, after we finish our primary mission and remove the Dalatrass' eyes and ears._"

_Dalatrass? Which dalatrass could they be referring to?_ Bev needed more information to piece any of this together, but from what he's gather it seems there are salarian traitors, or at the very least wanting to see the elimination of a genophage cure. He was more concerned about the fact that they targeted Mandalore without any kind of confirmation that he'd even be onsite to be classified as a secondary objective. Maybe with Mandalore's assistance more light could be shed on this little mystery, for now he was getting his armor and weapons ready for the assault on Omega.

* * *

As the shuttle moved to the coordinates, they received a transmission, "_Normandy shuttle, this is Lieutenant Victus with the Ninth Platoon. Do you copy?_"

"We hear you, Ninth  
Platoon."

"_We're approaching the bomb site, Commander. Getting bounced around pretty bad._"

"This is as close as we get, Lieutenant. Look for somewhere to set your platoon."

"_Copy that._"

Shepard prepped his weapon, "Talk to me about this Cerberus bomb."

Victus lowered his head about to speak, until Mandalore came into view, "_It's not Cerberus. The blasted bomb is turian!_"

Shepard turned back to the monitor, "What do you mean, 'turian'?"

Mandalore allowed Victus to speak once again, "_It was planted centuries ago, after the Krogan Rebellions. The bomb was a safeguard against another galactic war._"

Garrus walked up, the first he's heard of this, "Brutal, but it makes a certain kind of sense. Put the krogan down hard if they tried anything."

Lissarkh also walked over to the group, "The genophage was extreme but acceptable for the time. But concealing an explosive device in such a highly populated location was uncalled for. The Jedi Council would not have allowed such an act!"

Shepard could see Lissarkh wasn't exactly pleased, her lips occasionally flaring as he could hear the distinct sound of snarling lightly escaping between her razor-sharp teeth. "You won't earn trust with tactics like that. But right now, we focus on disarming that bomb."

"_Yes, but Cerberus found it. Detonation means all-out war between my people and the krogan._"

"Right. Where is it?"

"_Those buildings ahead. Cerberus brought equipment to dig it up. The Ninth Platoon will cover your flank, Commander._"

"With all of this activity, the krogan have to know something's up."

"_Then we can't fail, Commander._"

"Copy that, Lieutenant."

As the shuttle reached the LZ, Cerberus started to bombard the area with flak as their soldiers moved to stop their advance. Lissarkh was the first out of the shuttle, not even waiting for it to finish its approach. Garrus turned to Shepard as Lissarkh was already tossing Cerberus soldiers around like rag dolls, "I almost feel sorry for them that they have to face her fury. And I don't think she ever fights at full capacity."

Shepard and Garrus jumped out as they ran across the field, providing Lissarkh with extra support fire, though it seemed like she didn't need it. As Lissarkh continued to spear head this one-sided assault, they received comm chatter, "_We're getting heavy resistance here!_"

"_Watch the gun fire! You're turians not ducks in a shooting gallery!_"

"_Entrance sighted! We're on the move!_"

"_And keep those heads down!_"

Lissarkh's lightsaber sliced through the last Cerberus soldier in their path and the flak subsided. "_Once we reach the bomb, I'll need to reprogram the trigger mechanism._"

"Copy that. No trigger, no explosion."

Lissarkh stopped Shepard. "There are a number of these altered humans just around the corner."

* * *

Nyona returned to the nightclub Purgatory. Even she hated this awful music, but other than storming the DJ's room, of which she has mused just so she didn't have to listen to the music for a few moments, she couldn't do anything. Aria was still lounging on the couch, similar to what she used to back on Omega. "Everyone who's available has been informed. Now we're just waiting on Mandalore to tell Shepard and we'll get everything else rolling."

"Good. I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to kill you."

"You mean other than the fact that I was trying to usurp you?"

"Please, I've had idiots with convoluted plans to deal with and business deals to oversee. But you were at least smart about your approach, taking everything in strides, building up your reputation and partners. It would have been interesting too, but you kept expanding within Omega. You knew I couldn't allow that to continue."

"So Mandalore saved you a bullet."

"He saved me an asset. One that, at the time, was more trouble to maintain, but now, it was worth all of the pain."

* * *

Things on Palaven seemed rather bleak now. The Reapers continue to be relatively unchallenged as turian forces were constantly pushed back and prevented from either providing sufficient fire support for evac or holding territory.

Palva continued to help her people with every medical technique she knew as she got Kix and his men to give her the time, both in the air and on the ground, to assist them and get them to evac centers.

"Damn it, I'm not losing a child like this! I need that blood transfusion!"

Kix continued to draw fire away from Palva's position, using one of the abandoned buildings as his nest. "_How's it going down there?_"

"I've almost stabilized this child. Once he's good, we'll start moving for the rendezvous in three."

"_And I hate to break it to ya, but the Hierarchy is planning to carpet bomb this part of the city in two. So personal suggestion, put the kid out of his misery and save the others._"

"I will not leave someone I know I can save!" Palva got the blood going as she quickly tried to stich him back up after removing shrapnel that was dangerously close to his heart.

Palva could hear a groan coming from Kix. "_The others would kick my ass if I left you here to die. I'll try to see if I know the pilots. If we're lucky I can convince them to give us an extra minute or two. But no promises on that happening. If I can't we've got to move._"

"Thank you. I'll make every second count." Palva knew the little turian boy couldn't hear a word, having put him under for the procedure, but she still grabbed his hand, squeezing it slightly, "Be strong my little soldier, and we'll get you and your family out of here." Finished, normally she'd wait for the patient to recover and heal, but seeing as she was in a combat zone they didn't always get the luxury of time. The boy was placed on a mobile stretcher as the soldiers got everyone else ready, "Kix, I'm just about finished. Tell the bombers we just need about two minutes to get out of there way."

"_Then we just might make it. Those two happen to owe me for pulling their tails out of the fire from Oculi._" Kix detonated several explosives he had hidden to hold the enemy off for the evac, "_Meet ya at the dropships!_"

* * *

The Migrant Fleet continued its march toward Rannoch as they continued to push the geth from their territory. Jak was fiddling with the controls of his turret, "_Ibic mirshepar'la! Tion'tuur vaabi mhi to nari?_"

Dagger kicked Jak out as he checked the targeting, "_Lek, veman shu'shuk. Ne'tion'jo neverde goora val oyacyi be'chaaj par gar emuurir._" Jak was about to correct Dagger, or he was until he turned to see Prudii walking over to them. Instead, he allowed the two some privacy. "Prudii."

"Dagger."

"Rang?"

"Rang."

Prudii sat himself inside of the gunship looking out to the stars. Dagger sat next to him, "I know he can be thickheaded, but he's our _vod_. And saying that, it doesn't mean we can't beat some sense into him from time to time." Prudii just nodded, continuing his gaze outward. "When I look at you I sometimes forget that you and the rest of Sigma haven't had to worry about the Clone Wars for over two years. And that time can change people, for better or worse. I mean, look at us!" Dagger was hesitant to grab him, but he had some idea as to what was really on his mind. "Look, I know you're worried about the quarians. A few in particular," thinking of the Mandalorians among them, "but right now all we can do is support them and hope the geth aren't just luring them into a trap."

"Not their style. These geth wouldn't attack without a reason. And we've given them plenty."

* * *

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

Ibic mirshepar'la!(ee-BIK MEER-shay-PAR-lah)- This is boring!

Tion'tuur vaabi mhi to nari?(tee-ON-toor VAH-bee mee toh NAH-ree)- When do we join the fun?

Lek, veman shu'shuk.(L-eck, veh-MAHN shoo-SHOOK)- Yeah, a real travesty.

Ne'tion'jo neverde goora val oyacyi be'chaaj par gar emuurir.(neh-Tee-ON-jo neh-VAIRD-ay GOOR-ah vahl oy-AH-shee beh-CHAHJ pahr gahr eh-MOOR-eer)- Why not ask these civvies to throw their lives away for your enjoyment.


	16. Of Vice and Man

Lissarkh had cut though Cerberus with ease, using Shepard and Garrus combat abilities to hasten her advance through them. They had also received updates from Victus and Mandalore of their progress to the bomb. Delayed by mortar fire, Mandalore was helping Victus led his men away from the heavy fire.

"_Detonation protocol complete! Moving to extraction zone._"

"Cerberus is retreating!"

Lissarkh rushed ahead again, "No they aren't." Using her connection to the Force, she grabbed the troopers running as Shepard and Garrus killed the few actually trying to fight. Lissarkh started tossing the troopers she had lifted into the air into the debris around them.

With all of the troopers killed the shuttle that was waiting for them retreated before Lissarkh could smash it down. "There's a better vantage point up that ramp, Shepard!"

"Agreed. Let's go!"

As the team climbed up to see the bomb, Lissarkh started snarling once again at the sight of the bomb. "You're people left a planet killer on this world?" She was obviously having a hard time containing her emotions at this point, and she soon realized this as well. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing calming. "Apologies, my time with the rachni has been…overwhelming. They are an emotionally attached species. And my disagreement to turian tactics is only been enflamed by my rachni interactions."

Shepard looked around the bomb itself, noticing much of the area having been rooted out. "It must have been far enough underground to stay hidden. Cerberus had to dig it out."

Garrus found a ladder, waving Shepard over, "I hope Victus know what he's doing. We won't get a second chance."

As they continued Victus called them, "_Commander, we're entering the bomb site. Moving toward the control station._"

"Roger that. We're on our way."

"We're nearly on top of the bomb. Cerberus will be back with everything they've got."

A shuttle was in a rush pulling out, smacking against debris as it flew off. Lissarkh watched the shuttle fleeing, "And nothing they have will prevent us from stopping that bomb."

Shepard continued down as two Cerberus troopers were in full retreat. Garrus sniped the first one down and Shepard caused the other to trip, shooting his legs. Lissarkh past both of them, rushing to the engineer attempting to set up a turret, slicing both with one fell swoop of her lightsaber.

Shepard finished the injured trooper as he joined Lissarkh at the other end of the room. He found an active terminal that the engineer had left. "Looks like control schematics for automated turrets. No good now, but they might be useful later."

Lissarkh walked over to the view of the bomb, "Underground, this device could resonate with a fault line causing a catastrophe."

* * *

At the controls, Mandalore and a few of the Ninth Platoon were guarding the area as Victus worked the controls waiting for Shepard's team to arrive. "I'm at the control panel, Commander. Cerberus set up a firewall around the trigger mechanism to slow us down. I need to create a bypass. That'll take time. But like you said: no trigger, no explosion."

Shepard, Garrus and Lissarkh arrived to the site as Mandalore waved them over. Garrus joined the others on look out as Shepard walk up to Victus, "Are you sure you can disarm the trigger?"

"Yes. It's old tech. I know what to do. Buy me a few minutes, Commander."

"We'll make sure you have the time you need, Lieutenant."

"Understood. Starting bypass. And thank you for making sure I get this chance."

"Just make it right, soldier."

Mandalore pushed one of the soldiers to the ground, "Everyone, get down!"

"Sniper!"

Lissarkh blocked the second sniper shot, giving Garrus the time to find and kill the sniper. "Commander!"

"Focus on the bomb! We'll handle Cerberus." Shepard hopped over the ruble as he, Garrus and Mandalore moving to the lower area to act as the first line of defense.

"_Detonation protocol in jeopardy! Shepard and Mandalore blocking access! All units, engage!_"

"Nobody gets past us! Clear?"

Mandalore kicked a soldier to the ground and blasted him at point blank. "They're gonna wish they never found out about this bomb!"

* * *

Pulling a few strings, Beviin was able to get Chellick to watch over his students as he left for Purgatory in order to rendezvous with Nyona and Aria in preparation for the assault on Omega. Inside the club it was filled with life, off duty soldiers and civilians just partying, some wallowing in grief of fallen friends.

It was rather odd for the crowd to see someone in armor not a part of C-Sec, however they ignored him as much as they ignored C-Sec. Bev walk up to Aria, looking around, "Where's Nyona?"

"I have her doing one last errand before we leave for Omega. She's coordinating my people, now all we have to do is waiting for Mandalore and Shepard and we can get the real party started."

Bev could see the irritated look in Aria' eyes. Her impatience has caused her some trouble in the past, though with what was at stake now, "I'm sure the two of them will arrive as soon as possible. It probably has something to do with the treaty arrangements between the krogans and the turians."

* * *

Professor Pyth left the rachni to continue with the construction of the third arm, though she wished to confer with some of the Alliance engineers also working on the Crucible. "Dr. Oduol! I wish to confirm my findings with you."

"Professor Pyth, I believe you have proven a far greater understanding of the Prothean written language than any of us could ever hope to aspire. How could I possibility be of assistance to you?"

"For all of my studies I always preferred to have another set, or eight sets, of eyes to overview my work before any actual publication or finalizations." Pyth quickly activated her omni-tool and displayed her translations, "Now I notice from here," pointing near the neck of the device, "the Protheans actually stop using their terms for the metals as they called them. If my translations are correct, then I believe the Protheans knew they could not finish in time before their ultimate demise and instead transcribed as much as they could base upon the various metals' atomic numbers."

Oduol was using the translations Pyth had developed, and as he reviewed the data he also started to see the patterns. "I believe you are correct, Professor. Based upon these rough estimates, I do believe the Protheans were trying to use universal terms so we could translate these slightly more efficiently. With this translation we would just have to worry about forging and getting the material."

Pyth stopped Oduol, "While we're on the subject of material," Pyth looked to the plans again, "I question the need for this armored shell. It seems a bit excessive, especially since we're going to detach it all when we attach it to the Catalyst. At least, that's my personal qualm with this design."

* * *

Things on Tuchanka looked chaotic as more Cerberus shuttles arrived, even after Shepard and Mandalore destroyed an Atlas mech. Lissarkh continued to send back any stray shots as the two members of the Ninth Platoon gave Shepard's team extra fire support. "Commander! Firewall's down! I'm in!" As Victus was calling up the detonation protocols, a countdown timer came on display at a minute left, "Spirit! Cerberus hacked the trigger mechanism! It's set to detonate!"

Shepard knocked a Cerberus trooper to the wall as Mandalore finished him with a vibroblade to the neck, "Disarm it!"

"No time! I have to separate the trigger from the bomb! Now!" Victus immediately ran toward the ladder, "Cover me!"

Mandalore tapped Shepard's shoulder, falling back to the console as the men of the Ninth Platoon joined Shepard and Garrus. Victus quickly and carefully walked across the arm of the bomb as he unlocked the access panel to open the manual release lever. Victus quickly rushed to the center, and proceeded with the detachment procedure. Finished he watched as one by one the joints lifted until the last one jammed, possibly due to its time underground or from the Cerberus digging.

Victus looked back to his men as Garrus and Shepard continued to hold Cerberus back. Lissarkh looked up to Victus as she noticed the last latch unmoving. "Lieutenant! Fall back to the center, now!" Lissarkh wound up her arm before she tossed her lightsaber. The black blade shimmered in the light of day as she continued to watch it fly, leaving her defense completely to Mandalore. The lightsaber curved just enough as the blade sliced through the damaged joint.

With the finally attachment falling, the rest of the trigger collapsed as well, detonation in the hole that Cerberus had dug. Mandalore jumped down to join Shepard and the turians in finishing the remaining Cerberus forces, "Don't just stand around ladies! We need to mop up this mess before the krogan march in!"

* * *

The remnants of the Ninth Platoon recovered and left Tuchanka with heads held high that they succeeded as krogan forces were able to root out leftover Cerberus troops on Tuchanka. On the shuttle ride back, Lissarkh took a moment to speak with Garrus, "Special Consultant Vakarian."

"Please, just Garrus. I really don't like the formal title they slapped on me."

Lissarkh nodded, "Garrus. How will your people react to Lieutenant Victus' mission?"

Garrus shrugged, "I'm sure he'll recover from the mess that got him and his platoon in the first mess, but it'll leave its marks. Overall though, he did us proud, but…we're a hard bunch to please. Living your life for the cause, society first, platoon first. It's all just expected."

Lissarkh turned away from Garrus, quietly muttering to herself, "Like the Jedi, only militarized as a species," closing her eyes to reflect on the similarities.

* * *

Unfortunately even with the success of disarming the explosive, Wrex wasn't exactly pleased as Victus tried to explain, "We couldn't risk another galactic war with the krogan!"

Wrex didn't like feeling like he was being toyed with. "The genophage wasn't enough? You had to plant a bomb on my planet!"

"The decision was made hundreds of years ago. So much has changed!"

"Not enough to tell us about the bomb, coward!" Wrex was ready to kill Victus on the spot with enough reason.

Surprisingly though, it was Mandalore who stepped in to keep the peace. "Enough!" Mandalore looked to the two leaders, "Primarch, you had a bomb on Tuchanka and didn't warn anyone. Now I'm all for beating up administrative bastards as much as the next, but at least this one tried to correct the mistake of the past. Be it secretly, he probably thought telling you would only anger you and end the possibility of an alliance."

Victus lowered his head, slightly ashamed at how astute Mandalore was of his decision. "That's correct. That's why…"

"That's why you had your own son take on the risk and responsibility. And Wrex, we both know if the krogan were in the turian's position they wouldn't have just planted a bomb." Wrex didn't want to admit it, but Mandalore was right again. "Now, we all got what we wanted, turians disarmed their bomb and prevented krogan casualties. Let's bury this part of history and move on."

With Victus and Wrex settling down on their own, Mandalore was just leaving the war room when Mordin pasted him, the only things he heard from the salarian before the doors closed, "Shepard, tests verified. Results promising."

Mandalore was standing in the conference room, waiting a few minutes as Mordin rushed back out. Mandalore was waiting for Shepard, and when the Commander walked out, Mandalore moved to speak with him, "Shepard, can I have a word?" signaling him to join him in the conference room.

"What is it, Mandalore?"

Mandalore waited for the doors to close before he started to speak, "I received a message from my people."

"Are they in trouble?"

"No. Nothing like that." Mandalore looked to the glass, "The message was in _Mando'a_. We don't do that unless we really don't want anyone else seeing it." Mandalore turned to Shepard, "It's Aria. She's waiting for you on the Citadel. Dock 42. A batarian named Bray will be your contact."

"The last time I remember, you and Aria were partners or something, right?"

"I call it a loose affiliation though beneficial deals. Being on her good side has it perks, but I still owe her for giving me some of our first recruits. So I wouldn't keep Aria waiting too long."

* * *

Shepard did as Mandalore said, the _Normandy_ docked at Dock 42 where a batarian in black combat armor was waiting. "Are you Bray?"

"The great Commander Shepard. Heh, and me without my autograph book," Bray wasn't a fan of humans, and Shepard's actions in the Bahak didn't really go over well either.

"Save it. Just take me to Aria."

"Follow me."

Bray took Shepard through a weapon scanner when he suddenly stopped and turned to Shepard. "So where is she?"

Bray crossed his arms as an X3 hovered up and opened to reveal Beviin at the controls and Aria stilling in back. "Shepard."

Bray nudged his head to signal Shepard to get in. As he did, Bray sat in front next to Bev, "Aria. How dramatic."

"There are too many eyes and ears in Purgatory."

Bev closed the car up as he flew off to allow them to converse. "I assure this is about retaking Omega."

"This is about your war, Shepard. Cerberus controlling the Terminus Systems seriously bolsters their mobility. Since taking Omega, they've spread through the galaxy. Surely the Alliance has noticed."

"Cut to the chase. What's your plan?"

"Kick them out." Aria grabbed a datapad she had hidden in the back of Bev's seat, "I've amassed a fleet of merc ships. We're going to punch through enemy lines and invade. Once we're on Omega, it's a ground war. That's why I want you—I only accept the best."

Shepard looked to Bev, "What about the Mandalorians? Don't you have them to call on?"

Bev turned slightly toward Shepard, "We aren't ones that someone can just summon at a whim. Even so, Cerberus is a threat that cannot be idly ignored. Unfortunately a number of our people are unreachable or unavailable to assist us."

"Nether the less, I need every one of them I can get. And you." Aria then had a dossier on the datapad and handed it to Shepard, "The leader of the Cerberus occupation is General Oleg Petrovsky. He's the one who…ousted me."

"Don't know him."

"The Illusive Man's top military strategist and best kept secret."

Bev temporarily handed the controls over to Bray, "I gathered as much intel on him as I could. Petrovsky was an Alliance corporal during the First Contact War. His position of Shanxi held out during the entire war without being compromised. He was praised for his brilliant tactics, yet despite the promotion he disappeared off the Alliance radar. It's assumed he joined Cerberus not long after."

Shepard nodded, "What's your intel on the occupation?"

Aria looked to the image of Petrovsky, "Petrovsky's army is massive, and he's got Omega locked tight. The information stops there."

Shepard looked to Aria with suspicion, "So you're winging it."

"Not at all. There are secrets on Omega only I know, secrets that will provide us a foothold. I can tell you this: Petrovsky's invasion was precise and ruthless. He'll stop at nothing to win."

"Sounds familiar."

Aria turned to Shepard with cynicism, "I know my reputation. I know I'm hated. I ruled Omega with an iron fist. But the people were free. Their lives were theirs. I preserved that. This man took all that away, and he is going to pay. When Omega is mine again, I'll give you everything. I've got ships, mercs, eezo—all yours for the war."

"What's the catch?" knowing Aria always had a price for anything.

"I have objections to some of the company you keep, so you'll have to leave the _Normandy_ and its crew behind."

"My crew are professionals."

"Archangel, Vega, T'Soni, the Cerberus droid, to name a few reasons," Bev casually listed.

Aria smirked as she nodded to Bev to pull them back up. As he got the skycar back to where they picked Shepard up, Aria turned back to Shepard, "Bray will provide coordinates to my fleet. Oh, and while we're still on the Citadel, please be discreet."

Aria and Bev disappeared as Bray handed Shepard a datapad, "The fleet is hidden in this system. Signal me when you're on your way. Aria and I will meet you on the command ship." As Shepard walked back to the _Normandy_, Bray quickly added, "Can't wait to see what all the fuss is about," thinking Shepard to be nothing more than an overly hyped human.

* * *

While Shepard's meeting with Aria occurred, Mandalore and Lissarkh disembarked from the _Normandy_ to rendezvous with the _Tervho_ and the others. "Prath, how are we looking in supplies and man power?"

"_We have over three hundred thousand units of assault rifles, shotguns and pistols. Our smuggler friends have ample supplies of thermal clips and medi-gels, both levo and dextro __variants_. I managed to convince several organizations who have vendettas against Cerberus for both the space battle and the ground work."

"Great. What's the logistics for Aria's fleet and our little party combined?"

"_From the little scouting we've been able to get, we'll be outmanned three-to-one.__ However Aria's fleet has limited firepower in comparison to our forces, potentially tipping the scale in Cerberus favor even further._"

Lissarkh however felt rather uncertain. "Mandalore, must we truly help this gangster leader in retaking her lost throne?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, she is…she was, the only stable power controlling the Terminus Systems. Without her guiding the other pirates and gangs, Cerberus has free control over that region of space and they're starting to become more than a thorn in our sides in our war against the Reapers. I'll understand if you don't want to help us…"

"I never said I would not assist in combat. I merely question the fact that we must do so at the behest of Aria T'Loak. Could we not establish a more civil rule or government?"

"No. The instability of the region prevents such an order." Mandalore then stopped for a moment. "General, I know you've used your lightsaber around Shepard and his crew, but I would request you restrain your use of it, for a time. At least until we've gained significant control over Omega's systems so Cerberus can't attempt to replicate it or something."

Lissarkh grabbed Mandalore's ACP Repeater from its holster, "Very well. I will fight as instructed. But should the lives of civilians or your people be at risk I will do what is needed of me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, ma'am."

* * *

**A/N: **Aria with an army of Mandalore's contacts that hate Cerberus too, ouch for Cerberus.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	17. Rules of Engagement

Within the Aria's fleet, Nyona was running through numbers with one of Aria's lieutenants, "_…without your support we're out-shipped four-to-one and most of our vessels are transports with limited firepower._"

Nyona leaned against the holo-panel, "You know Aria. This isn't about a space battle, Jarral. The faster we punch through their lines the sooner you get feet on the ground."

"So you've commandeered a Cerberus cruiser…"

Aria looked to her left as Bray lead Shepard to her, "The guest of honor has arrived. We can finally start."

Aria displayed a map of exterior of Omega and cut the channel with Jarral as Bray moved to the controls next to a salarian. "Let me guess; you're planning on infiltrating the enemy fleet."

"That's part one in a nut shell." Mandalore walked over now as another of his people joined them.

Aria smirked to Mandalore, "We position ourselves to strike a crippling blow, then our forces join the fun."

Shepard was still skeptical about such a vague plan. "A lot could go wrong."

Aria was confident however, "The assault has been planned for weeks, Shepard. For now, just sit back. Let me steer."

"Not the best start to our partnership, Aria."

"How things begin isn't nearly as important as how they end. Bray, move through the relay." Aria stood behind Bray, putting a hand on his chair, "Signal the fleet to wait. They only follow on my command."

Mandalore grabbed Shepard's shoulder, "Rule 12: No plan survives contact with the enemy. And as a precaution, my force will wait for my command before they come through the relay. We're testing the waters before the main firepower comes through."

"And Lissarkh? She approves of this?"

Mandalore looked over to her as she was studying the internal design of Omega along with known external defenses, "She has her own doubts about Aria, but she's here to help however she can. For the citizens of Omega mostly, and to cripple Cerberus' mobility."

* * *

With Aria and the Cerberus cruiser the first ones through the relay, Bev was at the controls of the _Tervho_ with Hideyoshi as Aay'han and Emily Wong were behind them. "You're going to get great coverage here Miss Wong, a crippling blow to Cerberus and their control in the Terminus Systems. All at the safety behind Mandalorian lines."

"I know I'm normally against corruption like Aria, but with everything Cerberus has done, I think it'll do the galaxy good to know Aria is back in her seat. Hopefully she'll be helping rid us of Cerberus once she get Omega back, though I'm sure Aria will want to edit my report before the rest of the galaxy hears it."

"It's understandable," Bev looked back to her, "She is a superpower of the galaxy. Making her look weak will only cause more problems for her when this war is over. And getting on her bad side isn't exactly the best career move either."

Hideyoshi smiled, "Well this conflict is gonna be a short one. With a pissed off Aria, the Mandalorians, Mandalore, and Commander Shepard on the ground, Cerberus doesn't stand a chance."

* * *

Once through the relay, they scanned the area to locate all Cerberus vessels. Their forces were scattered throughout the debris field that circled Omega, though the main forces were between them and Omega. Aria found what she wanted, turned back to the pilots, "Head for the command ship."

As they slowly approached the station, they were hailed by Cerberus flight control. "_Cruiser, I don't have you on the flight plan. Identify yourself._"

Aria nodded as Nyona activated her omni-tool and played a recording directly into the comm, "_This is Captain Lentz. Run voice recognition: alpha, tango, zed. We took damage. Seeking repairs._"

"_Identity confirmed, Captain. Hold for approach authorization._"

Once the comm ended, Shepard turned to Aria, "How did you get the captain to say that?"

"The hard way," smiling as she remembered the pained expression on the human's face. Aria leaned onto the salarian's chair, watching as they got closer. "That's right, nice and slow…"

Shepard could see their target now, "Be patient, get as close as you can…"

"Fire!" Aria shouted not long after Shepard said that. Fortune favored them this time as the command ship didn't have their kinetic barriers active, nor could they once the bridge was taken out. "Signal the fleet through the relay!" The entirety of Aria's collected forces, minus the Mandalorians, pushed through following their path. "We're through. Head straight for the station."

As Bray was about to, he picked up something, "We're being hailed by the general."

"Should be interesting," turning to the holo-panel, "Put him through."

A black haired middle aged Caucasian human male with a thick goatee in a white Cerberus officer's uniform appeared now. Mandalore had Lissarkh and Nyona move aside as he allowed Aria and Shepard to confront him, "_Aria. I knew this had to be you. You'll never make it. Call it off now._"

"You're barking up the wrong tree, General, but maybe you can convince my partner."

"_Commander Shepard? I've heard great things about you._"

Mandalore remained a silent observer as Shepard quickly responded, "My partner here doesn't have much to say for you."

"_She's not used to being defeated-it clouds her judgment,_" something Lissarkh could see all too clearly. "_A pity you left Cerberus. We all sabotage ourselves in nefarious ways. Perhaps deep down you fear success. And Aria clearly thinks seeing you will unsettle me. Now it's my turn. I see you've gone to the trouble of augmenting that ship with Silaris armoring. An exorbitant waste. I've made improvements to Omega's outer defenses. My cannons will cut through you at will._"

Shepard whispered to Aria, "He sounds pretty confident."

"Yeah. He does."

"_So again, I say turn back._"

"Let's see what you've got, Oleg. End transmission." Bray did, and Aria leaned against the console with a smile, "That went well. Set preset course—we're ramming the station. Everyone, brace for impact."

"What?"

"Omega's kinetic barrier will stop my ships from landing. I equipped this cruiser with disruptors to take it out on impact. Don't worry, we'll probably survive the crash."

Lissarkh finally spoke out, "Miss T'Loak, I must advice another strategy. Petrovsky was not bluffing."

Aria confronted her with her usual brunt approach, "Yeah? I don't know who you are, and I don't care. You're one of Mandalore's people, so stay in line and follow orders. I don't need someone else telling me what's a bluff and what's not."

"I am not one of his people. I am a Jedi. And you should not be so hasty to believe you know everything." Mandalore grabbed her shoulder, shaking his head for her to stop trying.

As the rest of her fleet awaited Aria's signal to start landing they were forced to engage the Cerberus fleet. While they occupied them, Aria's ship moved on Omega. True to his, Petrovsky had the outer defenses open fire on the cruiser, and as both he and Lissarkh warned, was cutting through them with relative ease. "Shields gone! All systems failing!"

"We can make it!" Aria completely focused on retaking Omega at any cost.

Mandalore grabbed her arms, "Aria, damn it, wake up! We continue you'll never step foot on Omega again! Sound the bloody evac!"

"Damn it!" freeing herself of Mandalore's grip, "Program escape pods for the station."

Shepard got Bray and the others going, "Let's go! Everyone out! There's no time!"

Everyone rushed to the escape pods as the cruiser continued its course to ram Omega. Lissarkh, Nyona, Mandalore, a batarian and a vorcha were in a pod now as the others were jettisoned. Nyona turned to the batarian, "Well this is fucking great! First time back on Omega in how long and we have to crash through?"

"This Aria will do whatever it takes for victory, won't she?"

Mandalore nodded, "Yeah, she's a take-charge, take-risk kinda asari. Now everyone brace for impact!"

The cruiser still managed to ram into Omega, disabling the kinetic barriers as Aria had previously intended, though the ship didn't survive impact. The cannons fired on the escape pods, destroying a few as the other rammed through the station. Mandalore's pod cut through at least four wall before coming to a complete stop. Surviving Cerberus troops moved in on the pod to eliminate any survivors of the crash. As the doors opened, a grenade fell to the feet. "Move!"

It was a flash bang and it did its job as Mandalore and Nyona jumped out and killed all Cerberus forces. "Clear."

"Clear."

Lissarkh helped the other two out as Nyona checked their position. Cerberus however started venting the room, deactivating the automated shielding from their breach. Without helmets, Lissarkh was forced to push the two back inside and sealed the pod. "Is there a way for us to pressurize the room?"

"Not from within. Damn, and we're so close to!"

"Close to what?"

Nyona looked to the door closest to them, "The Defense System Station. Controls Omega's outer defense network. And we need to get in there if we want any of our ships to land. Unfortunately pressure controls are on the other side of both doors. And door number three is blocked by our pod."

Before Nyona could kick the door or one of the terminals, the shields were activated as atmosphere was reintroduced. "Looks like our entry point caught more peoples' attention than we thought."

The trio prepared for a fight as the doors opened. "Commander!"

"Mandalore, good to see you made it."

Lissarkh opened the pod again, helping the batarian and vorcha out. Aria looked to them, "You two. Rally with Bray and head to the rendezvous point." They complied without question, grabbing their weapons and heading off into Omega's depths.

Nyona looked back, "Good. Now we can get to the defense station and start this party."

Aria linked Mandalore and his team into her comm as Jarral reported, "_Lost two more transports! Can't keep up the evasive maneuvers much longer!_"

"This is Mandalore. You'll be getting reinforcements…now," timing himself with the signal he sent. "Pull your ships away from Omega's cannon range and my people will wipe the Cerberus fleet out."

With the element of surprise, everyone kept low and behind a terminal as Aran scouted to get an enemy head count. He spotted two troopers, two guardians and an engineer and he signaled Nyona on the numbers. "Alright, two grunts, shields and a techy. Should be fun."

Mandalore turned invisible as he moved up behind the two troopers. In position, he jabbed the spine of the first trooper and used the ACP Repeater to blow the head away on the other. Nyona rushed over and used her biotics to rip the shields out of the hands of the guardians, allowing Aria to use the M-11 Wraith shotgun as Shepard killed the other with a controlled burst from the Revenant. Lissarkh grabbed the engineer using the Force, pulling the pistol out of his hands before tossing him against a wall as Mandalore executed him.

Nyona walked up to the console about to deactivate the defenses when she had a devious thought. "What are you doing?"

"Switching Omega's defenses to target Cerberus IFFs for a couple of minutes before shutting them down."

Aria walked over to watch the turrets readjust to their new targets. "Nice thinking." Aria switched over to her comm, "Jarral, defenses are our. Signal the surviving ships to converge on the rendezvous point."

"_Aye. Approach trajectories plotted. We're already queuing up._"

"Bray, come in. Status?"

"_You won't believe this. Someone has been keeping this place warm for us._"

"Impossible. Cerberus doesn't know…"

"_I thought I'd give you a proper welcome home, Aria._"

"Patriarch?"

"_When the reports came in I knew it had to be you. Who else besides the Mandalorians or Aria T'Loak would dare come back to Omega while under Cerberus control? The docks are ready and waiting for your ships._"

Aria looked to Shepard, "I guess that's something I owe you for." Aria turned back to watch the Cerberus ships be destroyed, "Patriarch, get ready for a massive reception. My people and the Mandalorians will be ready for a fight."

As Nyona and Mandalore looked through the bodies of the Cerberus forces for extra supplies and any way to getting into their lines of communication, Shepard turned to Aria, "What exactly is this rendezvous point?"

"That's where we're headed. It's a bunker I established on—" Mandalore shot out a security camera that was tentatively looking at her.

* * *

Petrovsky knew Aria wouldn't be so brash to come to Omega without a plan. But news of this secret bunker has him somewhat concerned now. "Allow some of Aria's men though. Follow them only and await further instructions." Petrovsky turned back to his desk as he looked to his chessboard with a set of wooden pieces and the other was holographic. He then moved his bishop and knocked over the holographic rook as it fell over and made a sound. "So it begins…" Petrovsky turned back to the monitor as it was now at another security feed on Omega.

* * *

"You're slipping Aria. Now Cerberus knows we have a base of operations to go to. They'll be trying to track us, and your people."

Mandalore smashed the controls so Nyona's commands couldn't be overridden. Aria contacted her people, "Bray, stay sharp! You might get visitors. And tell everyone who hasn't reached the bunker to watch their backs if things seem too easy."

"_Terrific._"

Aria took lead, "We're taking the far exit. I've locked down the way we came."

* * *

Without Prudii or Kix helping with weapon targeting C3 was the next best candidate and the little astromech was doing a rather good job at it. And with Omega's defense cannons working for them, Mandalorian forces quickly cut through the Cerberus fleet with few casualties as Aria's severely damaged ships were the first inside the secret dock. "Watch the flack. The guns are on our side, but don't let ship debris catch you off guard."

Emily was recording everything she could from the cockpit as Aay'han watched over her to keep her safe. "Looks like some of your pirate buddies are already looting from the Cerberus ships."

Aay'han leaned down to Bev, "Try and see if we can get them to rescue survivors and salvage the gear from Aria's destroyed ships, too. The extra numbers and firepower will be handy once this turns into a ground war."

"Already sent. We just need to get everything inside soon before Cerberus decides to call in reinforcements."

Hideyoshi turned to Bev, "Maybe if we're lucky, this Petrovsky guy won't call reinforcements."

Bev couldn't disagree more, "Petrovsky is meticulous. He's undoubtedly prepared to repel Aria's forces. He didn't prepare for us. And once we're in the station things could be dramatically different since we were onboard. He withstood turian assaults on Shanxi, he knows what he's doings and we have to be that much more careful."

* * *

As everyone crowed into the elevator, the floor and right above the controls had been painted with a white circle with a red turian symbol over it. Aria was the first to take a closer look, "I know that symbol."

Shepard nodded, "Looks like a gang tag."

Nyona took a closer look at it now, "It seems familiar…"

"It should. The Talons," Aria turned to Nyona, "They used to deface my property, remember?"

"That's right. That pathetically tiny turian gang," Nyona almost forgetting about them, "They held on to a small dock and charged exorbitant fees for anyone who didn't want…to deal with you."

Aria smirked at Nyona, "And I'll assume you had some business with them."

When the elevator got them to where they needed, Mandalore was the first one out, as he examined a dead Cerberus trooper and another gang tag. "Looks like these Talons have been busy."

Lissarkh walked past to examine another dead Cerberus soldier, "It appears we aren't the only one whom Cerberus has to deal with on Omega."

Shepard looked at the relative efficiency of these kills, "Might be useful later on."

As the team move on, Aria looked down to the street below, "One of my men by the force field." She jumped down as Shepard and Lissarkh joined her. Nyona and Mandalore were keeping watch from the upper level as Aria took a better look, "What the hell is he doing?"

The dark skinned vorcha looked like he was trying to figure a way past the red force field when a black and gold upgraded LOKI mech dropped down behind him. The vorcha quickly turned and opened fire with the M-55 Argus assault rifle in hand, but the mech side stepped as he nearly hit Aria and the others. The vorcha quickly adjusted himself and opened fire but the mech pulled out a omni-blade that looked more like a burning chainsaw and slashed at the vorcha. The vorcha lost his hand and his rifle as he was recovering from the knockback. The mech though was quick to retaliate and slashed at the vorcha once again, leaving a scorching burn across his chest. That wouldn't matter though as the vorcha was flung into the force field, quickly burning as he screamed in pain before being reduced to ash.

The mech noticed Aria and Shepard as it called for reinforcements and moved in to use the Katana shotgun in hand or that omni-blade of its. Nyona destroyed the first one with her sniper rifle though as she reloaded, she watched the body start sparking. "Watch your step, the bastards electrify when destroyed."

Lissarkh walked out, her hand raised and so did one of the mechs, "Then we simply tear them to pieces!" her other hand slightly overlapped her first before she quickly pulled them away and the mech was pulled apart in pieces. However even with that parts of the mech still sparked to life.

Mandalore took the head off one before it reached the force, "Or we knock them down before they pass through."

Nyona joined Mandalore in picking off the mechs before they had a chance to even get close as Aria brazenly walked over to the force field to examine it, even as Nyona and Mandalore continued to fire. "Poor idiot. Something tells me these force fields are going to be a problem."

Mandalore popped the last mech they could see as he and Nyona joined the others. "General? This looks like an energy shield."

She had her hand move near the surface of it, "Close. Unlike the shields we know, these shield are only targeted toward organic matter," having the ACP repeater easily pass through it without any complications.

Shepard turned to Aria, seeing how their rendezvous was on the other side of this field, "Are we blocked?"

"Not this time. Come here." Aria walked over to one of the closed shops and opened the grad, closing it as soon as everyone was inside, Aria walked past the counter and next to a medi-gel dispenser.

"What are you doing?"

"Letting you all in on a secret." A false door opened with a ladder waiting, "Down the ladder."

Nyona and Mandalore went down first as Shepard and Aria were behind them. Lissarkh closed the door and joined the others in the dimly lit tunnel. Something caught Lissarkh's nose, something was with them, something alive. Aria seemed to also pick up on this unknown presence as she turned with shotgun at the ready and the others at her flank. Shepard was quick to demand, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

A figure cloaked in black slowly walked toward the light, though the voice was feminine that was something they could discern, "Spirits, look who's back: Aria T'Loak."

When the unknown figure walked into the light they could see she was turian and she had a red tattoo down the middle of her face, ending just before her chin. Aria quickly lowered her weapon at the sight of the turian, "Nyreen. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Playing cat and mouse, mostly. Just trying to say alive. If it wasn't for these tunnels…"

"My tunnels. I'm sure glad I showed them to you."

"If you hadn't, I'd be dead or locked up by now."

Shepard hasn't see Aria look this open toward anyone, even toward Mandalore, "Aria doesn't trust easily. I guess you're a good friend."

"I don't know," Nyreen turning to the asari in question, "Are we, Aria?"

"Shepard, this is Nyreen Kandros. Ex-turian military. We go way back," almost sounding excited when she said that last bit. "I've got a lot of question, but they'll have to wait. Follow us, we'll get you to safety."

"I'll do my best."

Shepard nodded, "Ready to put that gun to good use?"

"You have no idea how ready."

Mandalore looked ahead, "If you're anything like the ex-militants I know, you'll do just fine."

* * *

**A/N: **Why did Aria have to blab like an idiot with security cameras around? That was the biggest complaint I had about this part.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	18. Talon Scout

The entire fleet, both Aria's and the Mandalorians', managed to get squeeze into the hangar as the Patriarch assisted with getting the wounded to the medical area for treatment. Unfortunately Cerberus found the main entry point to the hangar, following survivors of Aria's grand entrance. Aay'han and Beviin rushed out to aid with the defense alongside Bray. "What happened with the defenses? I thought this bunker had turrets?"

Bev turned to the batarian, "Bray?"

"We're being jammed. We can't get them activated remotely."

"ATLAS!"

* * *

Aria climbed out of the tunnel to the sight of Cerberus assaulting the bunker, without the defenses online. "Bray, why aren't the cannons online?"

"_Something's jamming them. Trying to identify._"

Aria turned back as Nyreen climbed up, "We'll flank the enemy, get them off you."

Mandalore looked around the area behind the glass to assess enemy strength. "Atlas will be the main problem, we focus all firepower on that. General, if you could, deal with the other mechs. Once the Atlas is down we start picking off the rest of the Cerberus flunks."

Everyone jumped out as they took cover and aim at the Atlas. They opened fire on the Atlas, flanking it along with the bunker defenders as Lissarkh kept the little mechs away from them. Once the shield was stripped and the Atlas was completely focus on Aria's team one of the bunker defenders came out with a special weapon. "Rocket out!"

They fired off a Cobra Missile straight into the exhaust port of the Atlas mech, obliterating it. Lissarkh kept to her part, hold off the Cerberus augmented LOKI mechs while the others continued to fight off the Cerberus strike team using a mix of the ACP repeater and the Force to ward their advance. The mechs tactic to used shotguns and that omni-blade played to her advantage as they tried to close.

"_Mandalore, C3 has detected the cause of the malfunction. There's a Cerberus engineer currently hacking the cannons and keeping them offline. We need him dealt before she can restart it._"

"Copy that, Bev. Hold her back until we swat the gnat."

Shepard looked to Mandalore, "You have C3 out here?"

Mandalore killed a Cerberus assault trooper behind Shepard, "She's an astromech droid, they were built for repair and maintenance purposes, even in the heat of battle. Don't forget she's also one of Dagger's crew and she helped out on Horizon. She knows what she's doings. We just have to draw Cerberus' attention away from her until the guns are ready."

Nyona took to the shadows in search for the engineer herself. She found him hidden behind a few creates as he was trying to keep the cannons offline. Nyona took this time to creep up on him and put her shotgun to the back of his head. "Surprise, you bastard," blasting his head to the crates. "Shithead's dead. Now get those guns back online!"

C3 activated her jets and crossed the riven to start working on getting the guns back active. Lissarkh threw the last mech back through a nearby force field as she moved to defend C3. Nyreen kicked a Cerberus soldier and used a Paladin pistol to finish him as Aria blasted three of them using her biotics.

C3 was just about finished with the repairs and was about to restart the guns when a new Atlas deployed before them. Lissarkh training and instinct told her to draw her lightsaber out, instead she forced herself to use the ACP repeater to draw the Atlas away from C3.

Nyreen turned to Mandalore, "Your friend has courage, I'll give your General that, but she's foolish to try and fight it alone."

"She's not foolish, she normally wouldn't need anyone help to dispose of the oversized tin suit, but she's limited at the moment. Now let's give her some support." Before Mandalore could open fire Lissarkh used the Force to knock the Atlas onto its back and crushed its cannon arm. Mandalore jumped onto the canopy as he placed a breach charge onto the lock, turning away for the blast to give him an opening. Mandalore ripped the canopy open and used his pistol to kill the pilot before he could grab for his weapon. He tossed a grenade into his lap, closing the canopy and jumped back, "Fire in the hole!" the explosion took out the controls, rendering the mech inoperable.

Aay'han had Mandalore covered with controlled burst against a pair of troopers on a nearby rooftop and Nyreen tossed a biotic grenade up high and blasted two more troopers before they could surround them.

C3 whistled that she was about to activate the cannons and Shepard followed suit, the team fell back as they continued to fire while Bray activated the bridge for them. They continued holding Cerberus off as C3 positioned herself behind one of the turrets and activated them once the others had crossed the bridge.

A platoons' worth of soldiers and mechs were now flooding the area, as Aria and everyone continue to hold them off for a rather rude surprise. The unsuspecting fools ran right into the pair of anti-infantry turrets that opened fire on them all. A few tried to retreat but the two cannons wouldn't allow them to run, even blasting a soldier as he tried to fly off. The attack was relentless and devastating as it killed every Cerberus soldier.

The guns were left fully active and C3 rolled over to their side as Nyreen commented to Aria, "Nice guns."

"They'll keep the general's forces at bay for a while."

Shepard tapped Aria's arm, "Let's get inside."

"Bunker team: Retract the bridge and lower the blast door. We're coming in."

* * *

Bev was assisting was an injured asari as everyone else got inside. Aria turned to some of the asari as the bunker doors were closed, "We're in! Lock it down."

A pair of asari in combat armor rushed over and enveloped the door with their biotics. Nyreen though quickly turned back to the door, "Aria, I know this place is built like a fortress," turning back to Aria, "but is it safe now that the general's clued in?"

Shepard looked back to the door, "Yeah, I feel like a sitting duck here."

"I have no intention of sitting around, and you both should know I assume nothing. And on that front…" Aria walked over to an injured turian, though he wasn't her interest, "Nyreen, you left Omega fairly angry with me. I wasn't aware you'd returned. Explain yourself."

"The truth is I never left, a fact I went to great lengths to keep from you."

"I'm not easily duped. Well done," almost smiling at the fact, though she still had more questions. "But why?"

"I just…couldn't leave. Considering all this," looking to some of Aria's people who were barely standing, "I wish I had."

"Well, you always said I'd be the death of you."

Shepard wasn't sure of their history, though Nyreen seemed like someone he could trust on the battlefield. "Nyreen has military training. We could put her to good use."

"You're so quick to trust, huh, Shepard?" Aria walked up to Nyreen, "Nyreen never approved of Omega's—what did you call it? Moral bankruptcy. Are you willing to help defend it now?"

"You'll find me very willing to liberate this station."

Aria stared into Nyreen's eyes just to be certain, "Your combat skills seem a little rusty, but you're still a good shot. See my duty officer." As Nyreen entered the main area of the bunker, Aria looked away, "Bray, keep an eye on her."

The batarian flicked his cigarette to the ground and smeared it, "Will do."

"All right, Shepard, we need to move fast. I'm itching for revenge."

"If you think I'm going to let you carve a bloody path through this campaign, you're sadly mistaken."

Aria walked over to another asari as she handed her a datapad, "And if you think you're going to change me, well, you're welcome to try. Once up and running, this bunker will provide recon and secret access to much of the station. I'd appreciate it if you would quickly eyeball operations, see that things are setting up smoothly."

"What will you be doing?"

Aria handed the datapad back and started up the stairs, "Checking in on my forces. I need to know how many survived the assault before I can plan the attack. It won't take long. Join me at the command console when you're ready."

* * *

Mandalore had other interests in mind, "So the Patriarch manages to hold on to some old territory."

The old krogan started to chuckle, "Well I couldn't just let my home be filled with these upstart humans thinking they can run the place. And thanks to the Commander, I was able to get people to follow my orders. I even tried to reestablish myself, but I quickly realized that Aria would eventually return, and some here would only fight under her leadership."

Patriarch watched Nyreen walk past, though the two didn't exchange words. Mandalore picked up on something, waiting for the turian to walk away. "She one of your resistance fighters, too, right?"

Patriarch continued to look at Nyreen, "I wouldn't say she's one of mine…"

Mandalore has seen that look before, uncertainty dotted with confusion. He then tapped Patriarch's shoulder, "We'll talk later. Get your people ready for the war. I know Aria still has prepping to do, as do we." Mandalore found Aay'han and Bev as the two were assisting Aria's people. "What's left of Aria's army?"

"Not much, sir," Bev handed Mandalore a datapad with the casualty report, "Aria lost nearly a third of her fleet, and she would have lost more if you didn't signal us and retarget Omega's defenses. Even with our forces, we still don't have the manpower to win this swiftly."

Aay'han's omni-tool activated with an updated map of Omega, "And these energy barriers won't make things easy either. Cerberus has complete and utter control over all troop movements. They'll slaughter us before we could ever touch them."

Mandalore looked over to Aria and Shepard as they conversed, "Aria's first priority will be to reacquire the numbers she lost. She'll probably go for the resistance still fighting on Omega. Next priority will be to disable those barriers. How are we in removing Cerberus' control over Omega's security?"

Bev turned to a woman on one of the terminals, "Aria has slicers working on regaining systems, but without actual interfacing with some systems we can only go so far. We need direct input."

Mandalore nodded, "See if C3 can't do anything more, otherwise we'll find any terminals that look promising and open them up for you. In the meantime, I want everyone to help out however they can. Lock this place down. And tell Forta to prep for when we move to deactivate the barriers. He's an expert on Omega's systems, he'll be invaluable."

* * *

Aay'han and Nyona were selected to travel with Aria and Shepard as they moved to locate the Talons and form an alliance against Cerberus. Aay'han took point, looking back to Nyona, "So, you have a history with this gang. You two mind sharing?"

Nyona looked to Aria, "A few mutually beneficial dealings with occasional bouts of violence, from both parties here. I'm sure Aria also had her fair share of these events. Because they weren't on most people's radars while I was still on Omega, I used the Talons rather trifling presence to get a lot of things past Aria's iron grip."

Aria unlocked a door, "That was until the plague in 2185. You're little wars against the gangs left a vacuum."

Shepard got ready for the next room, "Not my intention."

Aria didn't seem to care for his reasons, "Their leader, Derius, took advantage of the situation and carved the Talons a bigger piece of the local drug trade."

Nyona started climbing a ladder as Aay'han followed her, "So, we enlisting them because they're good, or because we need bodies?"

Nyona smirked as she continued, "What do you think? Aria's using them as cannon fodder. That and they're the only game left worth picking. If there was more, we'd probably have Mandalore and a few others chase after them."

Shepard looked to Aria, "You're going to let them know that?"

Aria started climbing the ladder, "Relax, Shepard. This is how it works on Omega. Just let me do the talking and—"

"_Commander!_" Mandalore came on, "_We've got Cerberus forces scrambling._" Looking back as they witnessed Cerberus shuttles flying by, "_Looks like an attack on the Talons. Judging from comm chatter, their priority target is in the area. Tac eval has it as the Talon leader._"

Nyona smiled as Aria joined her, "Looks like we fight our way through Cerberus to get to them."

"Let's move."

The team continued through the hall as Bev was now on the comm, "_Commander, confirming Cerberus activity in the area. I'll tap into their comm system momentarily._"

At the end of the hall, Nyona found crates blocking a door way, and upon opening one, she was left confused. "That's odd. Why would they leave crates of Red Sand lying around like this?"

Aay'han put his hand through the addictive substance, "Maybe they had something more important going on."

"Not Darius." Aria looked around expecting a trap, "Profit is the only thing that matters to him. Anything else can burn."

Shepard was now climbing a ladder to find another wall tagged with the Talon symbol. Aay'han's periscopic piece was covering part of his visor as he looked to one of the terminals. "Bev, I think I found what you're looking for. Entering your code, now."

"_Confirmed. Terminal is online. We're seeping into the network._"

Aria and Nyona were now on the upper level as Aria looked around, "One of these air shafts should lead us to Talon territory."

Nyona though stopped Shepard, "Or we could keep this shaft secured." Nyona fired on a few canisters on a platform as it rose back up. She then walked to the console next to the one hacked as the platform was lowered back down. "We can throw shit back onto it later."

* * *

With Aria away, Mandalore saw this as the perfect opportunity to extract some more information from the Patriarch about the Talons. "Patriarch, let's chat, somewhere privately." Mandalore took him to Mandalorian territory as his people continued to move supplies and equipment. "Now, you've been here during the Cerberus occupation. You have to know who the Talon leader is."

The Patriarch looked around, surrounded only by Mandalorians. "Well, I suppose she wouldn't mind if I told you guys. But she'll be pissed if word gets out beyond your people before she tells Aria."

* * *

With Mandalorian precision, Shepard's tactical prowess and Aria's biotic abilities, they quickly eliminated a group of Cerberus troops holding the security area. Aay'han found two more terminals to aid the slicers as Shepard helped an injured Talon soldier. Nyona even opened the garage doors for the Talons to retreat through, closing it before Cerberus could continue the chase. Shepard was unlocking the warehouse doors as Aay'han continued to watch their backs.

Cerberus forces had captured two Talon members and were holding them at gun point. "Answer now! Last chance, Talon! Answer or…"

Shepard, Aria, Aay'han and Nyona walked in weapons at the ready. "What the—"

Cerberus forces were now focused on them as the engineer holding one of the Talons looked back, "Back off!"

"I don't think so."

The engineer shot the Talon in the leg and stomped on him before raising the weapon to his visor. Suddenly someone shot him from above. It was the turian from before, Nyreen. She jumped down kicking a Cerberus grunt to the floor before using her Phaeston assault rifle to bat an engineer back and blasting two others with a biotic grenade.

Nyreen then helped the injured man, "Take care of the wounded, and scavenge what you can. I want us out of here ASAP."

The other turian nodded, "You heard the boss. Move it!" A nearby door opened as more humans, turians and krogan in Talon colors rushed in.

Shepard jokingly noted, "Looks like we found the Talon leader."

Nyreen was grabbing thermal clips and grenades from one of the dead Cerberus soldiers when Aria walked to her, "My, my, Nyreen, aren't you full of surprises?"

"The deception was necessary. I needed to figure out what your plans were. The people on Omega depend on us. I couldn't risk compromising our operation."

Nyona looked to the Talons working without complaints, "Not exactly the runoff the mill street gang I remember."

"When Cerberus invaded, the Talons were a mess. I brought…new direction." Nyreen walked over to a nearby terminal to check on something, "The general's been hunting us ever since. Right now, he's attacking one of our outposts. That's where I need to be."

One of the turians walked up to Nyreen, "We're done here, boss."

"Right." She looked back to them, "Aria, Commander Shepard, Mandalorians: whatever you're here for, the answer's no. kindly escort yourselves off Talon territory."

"We're here to help. We'll talk about it after we reach your outpost."

"That's a generous offer," but Nyreen knows who's really in command, "Aria, does the commander also speak for you?"

Aria looked distained, though she didn't have many options at the moment, "Not the way I would have put it, but that's the idea."

"All right, then. Come with me."

"Hold a moment." Aay'han looked away, finger to the side of his helmet. He was in the middle of a conversation, but not even Nyona knew what he was saying. He looked back as he got his WESTAR-M5 ready, "Good news, Mandalore is sending the party our way. We'll have reinforcements rendezvousing at your outpost."

"I never gave you the location of the outpost."

"No you didn't, but we're good at what we do. Given the data we've been able to get from Cerberus, comm chatter, and the current situation of the station, our data crunchers pinpoint it to be roughly fifty meters or so down there, but with the field network we're going to have to go elevator hopping a bit. Our reinforcements should be able to reach the outpost by the time we get there."

* * *

**A/N: **I think they should have give players who saved the Patriarch a reward like this. I mean, even if he doesn't fight, it'd be nice to know if he lived or not.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	19. At Wit's End

"_Thanks to Aay'han's efforts, all security systems and cameras in the area are completely under our control. However you should still limit your lightsaber usage when it comes to Atlases. They have internal cameras that could feed directly to Petrovsky, and though we're jamming all comm traffic leaving Omega, I still recommend engaging them from behind or with your connection to the Force._"

Lissarkh stopped as a patrol of Cerberus soldiers moved rather close by, "Are your new eyes picking up any other Cerberus activity?"

"_Plenty. They're sending a small army to weed out the outpost._"

Tishad silenced them all and the team moved their bodies out of sight. "What strategic value does this location possess?"

"_It's strategic for the Talons. From what we've been able to dig up from Cerberus records, the Talons use outposts like these to help move or protect the civilians of Omega. Other than luring out the Talon leader, the attack on this outpost is likely going to end in a massacre if we don't intervene._"

Lissarkh encountered yet another of the barrier making her cut out a new path. "Just be sure Aay'han is aware of our movements and we meet at the outpost before it's too late." Lissarkh played it safe, carving the Talon insignia into the wall where she cut and sealing the hole once everyone was through.

* * *

With Nyreen leading them, the team was now working their way on a catwalk and Cerberus was there in force trying to take it. With the catwalk cleared, Aay'han and Shepard were examining one of the new Cerberus units. "Nimble this one."

"No kidding. Why did they give her a sword?"

Aay'han picked up the blade to get a better look at it. "Huh. A monomolecular blade. I wasn't expecting this galaxy to produce these."

"Monomolecular?"

Aay'han held the blade up high, "Yeah, that's what my HUDs registering. We've got similar blades back home, sharp as hell but just as fragile." Aay'han then bashed the blade against the railing, shattering it to pieces. "In proper hands, this weapon could be as deadly as us."

Nyona could care about the little lecture, "Does it matter? We just need to kill them before they can use it. Besides, it's that cannon in their palm I'm more concerned about."

Aria didn't need any of this. She walked to the door controls to open it only for the systems to fail spectacularly. Nyreen looked at it, "Lockdown system's have been compromised so many times it hardly knows up from down anymore. Nyreen to base: Need an engineer at the catwalk's entrance! Door's jammed again." She then turned back to the opening above and got ready for a fight, "This may take a moment."

Everyone was in cover now, though Aria looked to Nyreen, "You're not just using the catwalks as a secret passage to the base, are you?"

"A long drop is the best way to get rid of unwanted guests around here."

Nyona took the first strike, tossing a biotic sphere out as Cerberus forces started to drop in on the upper level. Shepard, Nyreen and Aay'han started picking off stragglers that managed to survive any biotic blasts created by Nyona and Aria. Soon enough they dropped an Atlas as forces upstairs were now firing on Cerberus forces.

Shepard looked back, "Are those doors open yet?"

"They're working on it!"

Nyona tossed another biotic attack, "Tell them to work faster!"

As a second Atlas dropped, Aay'han started hearing a very familiar buzzing sound. "Everyone, hold your fire! Hold your fire! Our reinforcements have arrived!"

Everyone kept to cover as Cerberus continued to push, or they did until something took out both Atlases simultaneously and a Cerberus soldier was tossed off the upper level and plummeted to oblivion.

Three of the Mandalorians could now be seen fighting through Cerberus forces before one of them repelled down as the other two continued to fight. "Someone call for fire support?"

The second Mandalorian repelled down as Cerberus soldiers were still being flung around like ragdolls. As the fighting was just about to get intense the bridge above them started to move, "They've hacked the bridge controls!"

Aay'han looked back up, "General, you need to get down here! Quickly!"

They could now see her fighting, being pushed back, or rather moving, toward the closing gap. She then back flipped down and brushed herself off as the bridge finished closing. "Commander."

Nyreen looked back, "Door's open! Let's go!" They quickly retreated into the outpost's checkpoint before taking an elevator up to the heart of the outpost. Nyreen was quick to leave the elevator as Shepard and Aay'han was close behind, "We'll be evacuating this location as soon as possible. Try not to interfere with my people's work."

A turian Talon rushed to Nyreen's side, matching her pace, "Intel just reported in. the group of civilians we managed to evac arrived safely at the other outpost." The blast doors opened to the heart of operations, "Also: routine sweeps reporting nothing new on the adjutant presence."

"Adjutants?"

Nyreen handed Shepard a datapad, "Creatures created by Cerberus. They eviscerate their victims' DNA, converting them into more adjutants."

Aria remembered, "Some kind of Reaper-based weapon. I fought them before. They're a nightmare."

"It got worse after you left." Shepard activated the datapad as a profile of an adjutant appeared, "Cerberus lost control of them. Those things tore apart the gangs, then attacked everyone in sight. If Cerberus hadn't found a way to contain them, the entire station would be infected by now."

Lissarkh looked to the other Mandalorians, "The purpose behind the mechs and barriers becomes clear now."

Shepard still commended her actions, "Keeping your people alive through that couldn't have been easy."

Nyreen looked away, "I watched friends get turned into monsters, and I had to kill them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an outpost to defend."

With Nyreen gone, Aria felt no pity for her what she's been through. "The adjutants really got under her skin."

* * *

Cerberus forces had launched another raid on the bunker and the Mandalorians were leading the defense. "C3, we need those turrets back online!" Cerberus has already destroyed one and disconnected the other. Without physically going outside she couldn't. "Then keep them from hacking the bridge controls. Triplets, I want a stronger barrier on that door! We need a few more minutes to move the supplies!"

"We're on it Mandalore!" Bethila and her sisters supported Aria's people in creating a stronger biotic barrier around the door.

As Mandalore continued with that, Aria radioed in, "_Ahz!_"

"Everything's in place. The entire station's connected." The salarian continued his work, making sure every terminal, screen and speaker on Omega was online and ready for Aria.

Emily Wong was even recording this as Aria appeared on the terminal. "_People of Omega: I have returned! Cerberus believes they have beaten you. They believe they have you under control. They are gravely mistaken. You are the lawless of the galaxy. You cannot be beaten, and you will never be controlled. Be ready! Your chance to strike out against your oppressors is coming. Together, we will take Omega back!_"

The transmission ended and Cerberus locked down all of the monitors, focused on eliminating Aria and the Talon leader in one raid. C3 turned to Bev, concerned with how Lissarkh would handle this.

* * *

Though the crowd in the outpost was enamored by Aria's rallying cry, Lissarkh wasn't. "Miss T'Loak, what are you trying to do? These citizens have little combat training. They will be slaughtered if they attempt to assist in combating them." Aay'han pulled her back, preventing her from saying or doing something she'd regret.

Aria pushed past Lissarkh and turned to Nyreen, knowing she too had her disagreements to this, "Anything is better than being locked up like mindless animals waiting for the slaughter."

Nyreen frowned at Aria, "I know what you're up to, Aria, and I don't like it." Nyreen turned away as one of her people was helping an injured batarian move. "I have civilians to evacuate. I'll deal with this later. All right, let's get these people ready to go. Now!"

With Nyreen gone to coordinate her forces, Aria leaned against the railing as Shepard turned to her, "What are you trying to do?"

"Trying?" Aria looked to Nyona, "The people of Omega—my people—love a good street fight. When it breaks loose, they'll be ready." She was now looking toward Nyreen as the turian was busy coordinating the evacuation. "Nyreen's code of ethics won't let her sit by if civilians are exposed. It's what makes her utterly predictable and therefore easy to manipulate."

A Talon soldier ran toward them, "Cerberus is launching another offensive!"

Nyreen walked over to them now, "Looks like I'm not the only one who didn't like your little speech, Aria."

"Glad I got his attention."

Nyreen jumped down, "Commander, landing pads are yours. My people and I will hold the main doors."

"Allow us to assist you." Lissarkh walked around to join her as Aay'han was right behind her.

"Suit yourselves. Just don't get in our way."

* * *

The blast doors to the command center and the windows were closed as Cerberus blasts the front door open. Over twenty soldiers rushed in, tripping several sensors that triggered several explosives, killing the soldiers and those waiting just outside. Before the smoke cleared the automated defense turrets activated, opening fire on the opening to prevent further incursion.

Bev and C3 were now welding the doors shut as asari were at the ready to use their biotics to protect the doors. Emily and her camera continued to record everything they could, though at the moment she was thinking the Mandalorian ship was a safer place. "Mandalore, do you think they'll breach this command center?"

"I always say expect anything. And right now we're taking every precaution available to us to prevent that. But for your safety I'd personally suggest returning to the _Tervho_ until the situation with Cerberus has been handled."

"No, you brought me along to report on situations, I'm not running now."

Mandalore looked around, "At the very least then go grab one of our extra suits for protection then. No guarantees on the camera droid."

* * *

Shepard and Tishad each helped an injured Talon member as Forta hacked one of the Rampart mechs as Nyona and Aria blasted them with their combined biotic assault. Once the injured were moved, Shepard and Tishad joined the fray, picking off a few mechs and Cerberus that were left over from Aria and Nyona's rampage.

Once they were taken care of, Aay'han contacted them, "_Mandalorians, well done. We've secured the outpost. Rendezvous at our location. Nyreen wishes to talk with Aria and Shepard about this alliance._"

Arriving on the scene, Lissarkh was helping heal an injured turian Nyreen looked back to Shepard, "The Talons will join your cause. Someone's got to make sure you don't run roughshod over our people."

"You see, Shepard?" turning to him with her smug look.

"Let me guess. She said I was predictable and therefore easy to manipulate."

"Pretty much word for word," Shepard wasn't going to lie to Nyreen. "She thinks she's playing you."

"Nothing new here. One thing though: I maintain command over my people. This is not up for debate."

"Just have them ready."

"Oh, they'll be ready." Nyreen returned to her people to finish the move as Aria and the others returned to the bunker.

* * *

Everyone had returned and the bunker was in lockdown after the Cerberus assault. Aay'han handed a power inverter he found at the Talon outpost to a mechanic to get operations to run smoothly as Bev and Ahz pulled up a map of Omega. Aria was standing next to the salarian, "Talk to me, Ahz."

"We've located the source that's powering the Cerberus force fields."

The source was located in the 'bloom' of Omega, highlighted for everyone to see. Mandalore was joining Shepard now as Aria turned to them, "Yes, I see. Shepard, take a look at this. The general is siphoning power from one of my main reactors deep in the bowels of Omega's mines."

Bev looked up, "He's very through too. Direct access has cut off by the force fields themselves."

"However," Shepard pointed to a darkened area nearby, "there's an open route through that dark area, then up."

"Hmm. The processing plant for one of the mines. It's been powered down. No force fields blocking it."

Mandalore turned to Forta, waving him over. "What's your assessment of this?"

Forta looked to the generator and the darkened processing plant. "Something's wrong. Even the slaves knew that the processing plants have elevators that lead to the power generators for maintenance purposes. Why would Cerberus leave such an obvious route open?"

"Exactly. He's baiting us. This is a well laid trap."

Aria looked to Mandalore, "Don't tell me you're afraid?"

"Far from it. I'd prefer that we know what we're stepping into beforehand, a luxury not always present in war. And any good strategist knows that a trap can work both ways. We just need to be ready when we get to the generator. Forta, you know Omega's systems like the back of your hand, you're going to ensure nothing goes wrong with shutting down those force fields. Nyona protection detail."

"Right, babysitter duty. Anything else before we leave?"

"Yeah. You're not going without me."

Nyreen was there as Bray was close behind, "Aria, my patrol caught her in the perimeter."

Nyreen was quick to shot down the batarian's pride, "Please. You didn't catch me. We're allies now. Didn't Aria tell you?"

"Nyreen was expected, Bray. Return to your station."

Bray seemed disappointed, but he quietly left as Nyreen turned back to them, "The Talons are ready, but if I'm sending my people into the breach…I want to make sure those force fields come down for good. So, like it or not, you're stuck with me."

"It's almost as if you don't trust me."

"It's exactly as if I don't trust you."

The two of them were in each other's faces, ready to argue or fight it out. Or they were until Shepard stepped in, "We're going to war together. I'll make sure we can rely on each other."

"Agreed, Commander. Glad one of you isn't on a power trip."

Mandalore walked away, pulling Nyona, Forta and Bev away, "While you finish up here, I need to speak with my people about our plans for the assault. We'll be ready when the time comes." Once they were back in Mandalorian territory, Mandalore turned to Bev, "What's your tactical assessment of the plans?"

"With all due respect, sir, I can't condone the use of civilians to fight against Cerberus. Especially now with their upgrades. I don't believe the General condones it either."

Mandalore looked off to the side as Aay'han was keeping her away from Aria, "I know. Now onto our strategy; Bev, you and the Triplets will hold down the command center with a small number of Aria's people while C3 continues to give Cerberus technical hell. I want Prath to put the _Tervho_ on lockdown once everyone starts moving out. Do you have everyone spread out to maximize civilian defense?"

Bev nodded, handing off a datapad with a map of Omega mapped out with everyone's positions, "The Talons weren't further coming at first, but I was able to plan out all forces, the bulk of our people will be with Aria's men to ensure the safety of the civilians. The General will work with the Talons to help give them even more push."

"Excellent. I want Tishad and Aay'han with her as well to watch her back. Nyona, Forta, when you take the force fields down I want both of you to rendezvous with Sal and hold out until we capture or kill Petrovsky. Bev, if you or C3 could, tap into Omega's security systems for Miss Wong. I want full coverage on how quickly we finish this final battle. Remember, adapt to the situations and keep each other safe."

* * *

Shepard took some time to speak with Aria and Nyreen before heading out, but once they were set Forta was their guide through the processing plant. The elevator opened as they moved closer to the door. "Power to this entire eezo processing plant has been completely severed, including the doors. We'll have to pry them open. Once we're in the mine access will be on the far side."

As Shepard worked to open the door, Nyreen looked to Forta, "And the reactor is beyond that?"

"It should be. I never worked this part of the mines, but most of them have similar layouts."

Nyona was first through, followed by Aria with Forta, Nyreen and Shepard behind. As Shepard's light moved across the area Nyreen was the first to spot something disturbing, "Spirits!"

Aria got down as she pushed one of the bodies with her shotgun, "Relax, they're all Cerberus."

Shepard could see plenty from where he was standing, "They've been ripped to shreds."

Nyreen however was no longer calm or collected as she usually was, looking around with rifle at the ready. "I don't like this."

Forta was point as he kept his omni-tool active and used the map to guide him through the dark. Suddenly he stopped and looked back to the others, "I just had a thought. Since the entire floor here has been shut down, that means the doors and elevator to the mines will also be without power. And without power we won't be able to open those doors."

"So we improvise as usual, four-eyes. Locate the master circuit breaker and do your magic."

Forta pointed back, "That's just it, Nyona. Controls to the circuit breaker are locked in that room. And brute force won't open those doors."

Nyona took a moment to look at the map herself. "Here, it's a bit of a trek, but I think we can use the pipes near the door to get to the upper level. If we're lucky something should be busted open for us to get inside."

With a plan set, Forta continued until the walkway they were about to cross had some unexpected extras, "More dead Cerberus."

Nyreen was utterly terrified, taking a step back from the scene, "It's a bloodbath. I've got a bad feeling. We shouldn't be—"

"Quiet." Shepard looked around trying to find the origin of this strange cry, a nasaling almost growling like noise, "What's that sound?"

Aria scoffed, though she was getting ready for a fight herself, "An adjutant."

"Oh no. the general must have locked this place down to keep it inside."

Nyona however pushed Nyreen forward, "Quit the wining and let's move!"

Following Nyona's plan, the team climbed up a ladder and followed the pipes until they reached the upper level of the circuit breaker room. Aria stopped, "The whispering's receding."

Nyona was getting cocking, "Maybe the adjutant doesn't like its odds."

"Don't kid yourself," Nyreen continued to look around, afraid of every shadow, "I've seen one of those things take down a squad of soldiers."

Forta climbed up and surveyed the area. "We're in luck. The doors here are wide open. Let's get down the ladder and power this place back up."

* * *

**A/N: **E3 this year has been interesting. Some under-the-radar games I'm actually excited about and a few not so under-the-radar. PS4 and Xbox One though haven't exactly got me hyped for either, especially since we're still getting games for their predecessors(a few good ones I might add).

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	20. Power Struggle

Forta was completely in the dark was he opened the control panel and was working on the wiring. Nyona was starting to get bored waiting for the batarian, "Hey, I think they made this button here to power everything back up."

"And if I did that we'll light up on every sensor faster than one of Rang's explosives. I'm trying to minimize power draw so we don't get too much unwanted attention, just enough for lights and to gain elevator access. Fortunately from what I'm reading here, the elevator itself is on a separate power grid, attached to a sector that's still active." Forta closed the panel and activated it as the lights in the room activated.

Aria looked to the reactivated control panels, "When this is over, there'll be a lot of repairs to make."

"I hope you'll focus on the civilian areas first," Nyreen quickly voiced for the people.

Aria knew that wasn't going to be, "You are relentless."

"That's one thing we have in common." Out of the blue one of the bulletproof windows was smashed opened by an adjutant. "Sprits!"

The adjutant quickly recovered from the lunge and started to attack them with its cannon arm. "Unload on it!"

"No need to tell me!"

Everyone but Nyreen though wasn't firing on it. She was completely in terror of the thing, backing away alongside the others until Aria shouted, "Nyreen, wake up!"

Everyone split up to for the adjutant to pick a target and expose itself to the others. Nyona did a rather risky move, diving between the adjutant's legs, she then used her biotics to accelerate herself even further and get back to her feet. "Come on ugly, let's dance!" flaring her fists with biotic energy she tossed one of the biotic balls of energy at the adjutant's face.

The adjutant blocked Nyona's attack using its cannon arm, neutralizing its effect. "She's not yours to kill!" Aria tossed her own biotics at the back of the adjutant, bursting the three sacks. This only seemed to anger it even more as it started to run at Aria.

Nyona tossed another biotic attack at it, "I'm not done with you yet, tube face!"

Forta tossed an Incinerate tech attack at the adjutant now as Shepard continued to fire on it until it collapsed. Aria blasted the head until it was completely reduced to a pile of mush. Nyreen however was still behind cover as she slowly walked back to them, "I hate those things."

Aria kicked the adjutant, "Hate should make you deadlier. That looked like fear to me."

* * *

Mandalore was watching over a street as Cerberus patrols continued as though nothing different has happened. "Mandalorians, check in."

"_Team 3 reporting. We're waiting pretty as always._"

"_Team 8 here. We've run into a bit of difficulty. Cerberus patrols have us pinned and we can't break without them spotting us._"

"_Hold on 8, Team 5 will bail you out._"

"_Teams 7 and 6 have formed up. Our paths are crawling with Cerberus and we needed the numbers._"

"_Team 2. All's quiet on this front. Just waiting for the invitees._"

"_Team 4 on standby._"

"Bev, how's the command center?"

"_The welds are holding as expected. They're continuing their attempts to break through but they won't. They're diverting forces from Team 4's position to our location._"

"Just don't do anything too dramatic. I want to see everyone back on the ship when this done. General, how are you fairing?"

"_I'll feel better once the barriers are down and we can end this before too many lives are lost to the flames of carnage._"

"Understood, ma'am. We won't give Cerberus that chance. Everything now depends on Shepard and Team 1."

* * *

Another three adjutants were disposed of as the team now took the elevator up to the mines. Aria turned to their turian guest, noticing something from her, "What's eating you, Nyreen?"

"Just processing. It's clear the general sealed that area to keep the adjutants in."

"Along with some unlucky soldiers," Nyona added as she was toying with a Cerberus SMG.

"Yes, the creatures killed them but didn't turn them into more adjutants." Nyreen looked back, "I can't shake it—something's off."

Aria shrugged it off, "You're just spooked."

Nyreen quickly pushed Aria's shoulder, "There's a rhythm to this place, Aria. To Cerberus. If you'd stuck it out here, maybe you'd feel it, too."

Nyona however had no objections to getting in a few more kills, "Whatever's in our way, we deal with it."

Forta looked up now, "Can you hear that? Those idiots!"

Aria was leaning on the bar too as the drill came into view, "Damn it, they shouldn't be straining like that."

"Cerberus must be working them hard."

Forta shock his head, "And they've probably gone through a few drill bits by now too. Once we get up here, I'll take you guys through one of the 'secret passages'."

"What do you mean secret passage?"

"It's nothing. It's just a thing we call it. One of the passages some of the technicians use to get to the generators without going through the mine entirely. It takes a bit of moving things around so I doubt Cerberus has found it yet." Forta pulled a ladder out though it led to nothing. He climbed and opened a hidden door.

"When were these installed?"

Forta looked up, "When I worked here."

* * *

With the secret passage, Forta created a diversion to distract Cerberus forces by detonating a small explosive that caused a chain reaction with the unprocessed eezo. As they tried to contain the fires it left the elevator wide open.

The reactor was now right before them, nothing was standing in their path. And that was rather worrisome. As Forta tried to reach the reactor they were surrounded by force fields. That was when a small orb floated down and projected a hologram of Petrovsky now standing before them, "_I commend you. Your plan of attack was impeccable._"

Nyona leaned against one of the consoles, "Figured."

"_I knew the reactor would be the hard target. I gave you no choice but this route._"

Shepard looked to him, "It's too bad you're on the illusive Man's side, Petrovsky."

"_I'm on humanity's side. You're the ones trying to start a war—for the glory of Aria. But now it's over._"

Aria quickly barked out, "This isn't over until your next of kin can't identify you."

Petrovsky clapped his hands, "_I love your bravado, but have the sense to know when you're beaten. You've been neutralized, and I can leave you there to rot. You might as well give up._"

"Never."

Aria was now looking to the force field, though it was something Nyona has learned wasn't a good look. "Aria, what are you thinking?"

"I'm not going out like this."

"Aria, don't!"

Aria rushed at the force field, fully enveloped by her biotics, as her hands attempted to pry an opening out, "_What the hell is she trying to do?_" Unexpectedly she was actually succeeding in creating a small gap. "_Damn it. Aria, you're forcing my hand. We'll do it your way then."_

The hologram disappeared as Rampart mechs started to pile through. "Come on, time for some fun!" Nyona crushed one of their heads with her biotics as Forta hacked another's IFF systems.

Nyreen was staying close to Aria as the two Mandalorians were with Shepard, picking off the mechs before they could get through the force field or dropping in from above.

This little shooting gallery continued for a bit before Aria showed signs of struggling with the force field. "No!" Nyreen rushed to Aria's aid, projecting a small biotic shield around her. Nyreen was forced to divert her attention to a pair of mechs dropping next to them, shooting their heads at point blank range.

Aria looked back, trying to find the others, "Shepard! I can't hold it much longer. Go!" the gap was now large enough for a person to get through.

Nyona tapped Forta's shoulders, signaling to the batarian he needed to go too.

Shepard and Forta jumped through the gap, relying on Nyreen and Nyona to cover them from more inbound mechs. Once through Aria released her grip on the force field causing a biotic explosion that knocked them back. Nyreen rushed to Aria's aid, "Spirits, Aria. How did you know you could do that?"

"I didn't." The three of them now returned their focus on the small army of mechs trying to kill them as Shepard and Forta were outside of the force field trap.

Forta was led again, "Come on, generator controls are over there," pointing off to the left.

"I doubt Cerberus will make it easy."

"They never do." Forta destroyed the first mech he saw heading there way as Shepard dealt with a soldier.

Now some of the mechs were being diverted to try and stop them. "I'll keep them busy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. If anyone can do this, it's you."

Forta nodded, rushing over to the controls. As he started to work on them, the orb and Petrovsky's hologram appeared again. "_You can't do this, Mandalorian. There's more at stake than you know. The reactor powers life support systems for dozens of wards across the station. Shut it down, and thousands of people perish._"

Forta tapped the side of his helmet checking with Nyona, "You guys hearing this?"

"_Yes, and I don't care. Shut it down!_"

"_Don't!_" Nyreen quickly shouted, "_Try rerouting power away from the force fields!_"

Forta looked back at the control and started to work. Petrovsky looked over his shoulders, "_Rerouting the power to maintain the other systems…it's commendable…but it might take a while._"

"It might take a while, if I didn't have my own codes imbedded into the systems." Forta activated his omni-tool, and with a few key inputs the generator was still running and life support systems were still operational.

All across the station, the force fields were shutting down as the citizens of Omega, the Talons, the Mandalorians, and Aria's soldiers were now free to assault every position and sector without anything stopping them.

* * *

Petrovsky watched the chaos and carnage unfold across the station, his hologram that was with the Mandalorian retreated. "So be it. All units: Battle stations. Prepare for attack. Get the demolition crews into position."

* * *

Shepard and Forta were covering Nyreen and Aria as Nyona got into the room. Aria then blasted a Rampart with her biotics as Nyreen closed the door. "You okay?"

Aria brushed off a bit of charred metal from her arm, "Never better."

"That makes two of us." Nyreen walked over to Forta, "You brought all your skill to bear and accomplished the task without sacrificing lives. The Mandalorian reputation doesn't do you justice."

Aria looked to Forta and Nyona, "The Mandalorians remain cool under pressure. Mind clear, shit together," she now glanced to Nyreen, "Take a good hard look—that's what fearlessness looks like."

"What are you driving at, Aria?"

"You fought bravely against those mechs in there, Nyreen. Very impressive."

"But?" Nyreen walked closer to Aria.

"Why can't you bring the same grit when adjutants attack? It's pathetic. You tense up at the mere mention of those abominations…"

Shepard stepped in, "Lay off. She just saved you."

"I'm trying to help her, Shepard. Call it tough love. The war's starting. I don't mean to miss it."

Aria was already walking toward the elevator when Nyreen looked back to Shepard, "She's never been big on thank yous."

Nyona pushes her way past the two, "Like that's something new?"

* * *

As the five man team rode the elevator, Nyreen was checking on the situation across the station. "Getting reports: All force fields down. Civilians taking to the streets in droves. Cerberus pulling back."

"That won't last."

Nyona nodded, "Damn right. We kicked the hornet's nest while they weren't looking. They'll organize themselves soon enough."

Nyreen turned to Shepard, "And the people don't have the training to go up against Cerberus front lines. They'll be wiped out."

"Civilian casualties can't be avoided. You'll have to accept this."

"Say what you will, Aria. I won't allow senseless deaths."

Aria though gave tactical control over to Shepard to decide. "Do what you can to protect them."

"Of course, Commander." Aria was disgusted by such acts, disregarding them both.

"_Forta? Nyona? Respond!_"

Forta tapped the others in, "We read you Mandalore."

"_Bev's been listening to Cerberus chatter, and it's not sounding good. Cerberus demo teams are working their way over to the station's central support columns. I'm slowing them down, but we're picking up another team coming from the other side. By the time I reach them they'll have reached the columns._"

Forta was about to pull up a map of Omega, but Aria already knew what it would mean, "If they detonate the main column they'll cut off the way to Afterlife! The Talon offensive will be stopped cold."

Shepard got ready, "So we split up."

"Yes. Nyreen, Nyona, lead the frontal assault. Shepard, the Mandalorians and I will meet you in the markets after we've taken care of those bombs."

Nyreen went over to the elevator controls to let them off, "Of course, but don't count on me building your memorials if you get yourself killed."

"I like it when you're feisty," winking to Nyreen with a rather different smile than what Aria was known for.

As they exited they found Bray along with a few of Aria's people covering Mandalore as he was taking care of the Rampart mechs. "About time you showed up." Mandalore tripped one mech to the ground and shot its head and rammed his vibroblade into the face of another. Forta then hacked a third that was right behind him ready to use its modified omni-blade.

Shepard and Aria were now helping Mandalore push Cerberus back while Aria's people held back. Mandalore whistled to Shepard before lobbing a grenade over them, destroying a shield generator providing the mechs with an extra layer of protection. Forta's hacked mechs proved to help tip the tide further as Cerberus didn't seem to hold any contingencies for rouge Ramparts. The two of them did a number against their own and Cerberus, compounding to the damage wrought by Aria, Shepard and Mandalore.

"Cut them off! Take out the catwalk!" One of the soldiers fell back, running off to do just that.

"Stop him!" Mandalore was about to jump over the cover, but a sniper stopped him. He quickly shifted his DC-17m to its sniper configurations and took her out before she could get the next shot off. Forta provided cover as he swapped his weapon back to its assault rifle form.

Shepard rammed his omni-blade into the back of the last standing Cerberus soldier as Forta overloaded the systems of the hijacked mechs. Rushing over to the catwalk the soldier setting the charges detonated prematurely to ensure they couldn't pass.

Aria though knew other ways across. "Idiots. They took out the catwalk, but we can extend the dam in the control room. That will get us across."

With the dam extended, the team quickly got the other side, however Mandalore stopped when he looked down into the drainage area before them. "Would you look at that?"

Shepard activated his comm, "Harrot, found what you wanted. Sending you the coordinates now."

When Aria looked down she was a bit peeved off now, "…Is that my couch?"

Forta shrugged to her, "Can't account for Petrovsky's taste in furniture I guess."

Mandalore scanned the couch, "If you're worried about water damage, I'm sure you can get the elcor to do the dry cleaning."

* * *

With the war for Omega reaching its climax, Lissarkh was now doing everything she could to end the fighting before more lives were lost. However instead of actually fighting she was doing something that only a Jedi could do. This was something she started to study once the Clone Wars had begun and she was given an army to command.

Lissarkh was meditating near the soldiers valiantly defending the civilians who were fighting. Tishad looked to her rather calm look, starting to question the validity of having her here. "Where is that supposed great fighter you guys keep talking about? All she's doing is sitting there!"

Aay'han got two of the civilians back behind cover as he looked to Lissarkh. "Old Jedi trick. And one of the best when fighting foes like Cerberus."

"There's a break in their left flank!"

Aay'han joined them, "Don't let any of them leave without a hole in their heads!"

Amazingly Cerberus formations and tactics were weakening as the resolve and fortitude of the civilians and the Talons grew. Tishad took a few pot shots at them, finding that their aim seems to be far more terrible than any other engagement she's fought against them. She quickly looked back to Lissarkh wondering if this is what Aay'han meant. She then noticed a civilian taking cover to reload and a Talon member providing him cover without ever exchanging words. Suddenly she thought she heard someone saying they needed help with a Centurion that was about to be on top of him. Tishad quickly rose back up to spot the Centurion, taking him down and seeing a civilian get up from cover and killing a Cerberus soldier off in the distance that was tracking her.

Lissarkh slowly picked herself up, drawing the hilt from her belt. Aay'han took cover, "Bev, confirm camera controls over in sector 4-2."

"_Confirmed. Sectors 4 thru 12 are completely under our control._"

Aay'han raised his hand and threw it down, signaling everyone to stop, "Have at them ma'am."

The lightsaber activated, the black blade shimmered in Omega's red lighting as she moved to the cover, jumping over it and landing near the enemy roughly eight meters away. Before any of them could react, Lissarkh quickly sliced through a number of them in fluid movements, each slash an instant kill blow, blasting the crowd of them away with the Force. Tishad was slightly taken back by the display, now having no doubts as to why the Mandalorians respect her so.

Aay'han hopped over the cover first, "Alright, we're moving on! Let's keep up the pressure and help the others if we're able!"

* * *

**A/N: **And I hate this time of year, its hot, there are games and movies aplenty that I want to get/watch. So much to do, so little cash to do it.

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

N/A


	21. Burning Passions

Killing the Cerberus team that managed to reach the support columns, Forta moved to the control console in an effort to disable the bombs. "Crap."

Forta was looking around, and quickly moved to the columns themselves, checking something. Shepard looked back to the console, "Don't we need to open the access panels first?"

"Yeah, but if Rang has taught me anything about explosives, then these things are rigged." After a few moments of examining the panel, he slammed his fist against it, "Damn them! We need to open the access panels, but the only way to do that is with the console, and once they open the bombs will go live and we're on the clock."

Aria looked back to the batarian, "Don't you have some kind of short cut or something here too?"

"With your paranoia, and mine, I never dreamed of touching these. Well, not the central support columns at any rate."

Mandalore tapped the console, "Then we better get moving." He then turned toward the spinning fan at the other end of the room, "We'll draw Cerberus' attention. Focus on disabling those bombs."

Forta was already disarming the Cerberus explosive once he could interface with it. After a bit of tinkering with the wiring he carefully removed the device, ripping out a few extra wires to permanently disable it. "Three more to go!"

"Really wishing Rang's 'magic fingers' were here right about now."

"Rang? Isn't he better at blowing things up?"

Mandalore took cover next to Shepard, "He prefers it that way, yeah, but being a master of explosives he can arm or disarm any of them. Now watch your flank."

Mandalore killed the Cerberus solder as Shepard tagged a Rampart mech. The two of them nod to one another before breaking cover to engage another group that appeared, distracting Cerberus from Forta as he moved to work on the second column's bomb.

* * *

The Talons were continuing ahead, though Aay'han and Tishad were holding back because of Lissarkh. The Jedi was meditating in a small room, relying completely on those two for her defense. Tishad watched this strange behavior, still uncertain how this was helping. "So why aren't we gunning through Cerberus like you usually do?"

Aay'han was completely focused on keeping the area secured, "Three reasons. First, we've got civilians fighting. Second, we're only fighting long enough for Mandalore, Shepard and Aria to reach the Cerberus general. And third, that battle meditation will be the difference between thousands of civilian casualties and a few hundred. Not ideal, but we save as many lives as we can. Trust me, we're doing more to help everyone than fighting sector by sector. Just listen to the reports."

Tishad wasn't sure what listening to the comm chatter would do, but she wasn't going to fight against him after seeing some things the Mandalorians have managed to pull off. She scanned through the various channels they were using for the assault and it was all rather good. They were starting to suffer heavier casualty counts, but overall everyone was managing to push Cerberus back hard. Despite their lack of any formal training for the civilians, or even fighting together, they were managing to have Cerberus scrambling to even fight back. "How is she doing this?"

"The ultimate form of psychological warfare. Allied forces get moral boosts and better coordination with one another, while the enemy starts cowering in fear and loss of resolve. Can't really put fear into a tinne, but that doesn't mean the men couldn't use the encouragement. The only downside to that would be she's nearly defenseless while doing this."

* * *

Aria kicked a Cerberus flunky down before shooting his back with her shotgun and Forta hacked a mech that killed the Cerberus soldier that was behind her. Mandalore ripped the mech's head off, the last hostile standing. "Clear."

"Good. Nyreen, things are under control here. What's your situation?"

"_We're advancing through the Gozu district. We're holding our own, and I don't know how, but so are the civilians. Cerberus is starting to fall back, cornering themselves. Even so, reports of casualties are coming in from all sectors._"

"Save those you can, and head for the rendezvous point. We'll meet you there."

"_We'll do what we can. Nyreen out._"

Mandalore was tempted to note her rather unusual behavior, however he looked toward Afterlife's direction, "So, any plans on how we're getting there?"

Aria walked next to Mandalore, "I'm thinking the straightforward approach…for a change." Aria flared her biotics, charging an orb in her fist before launching it at the fan they were looking at. The orb broke one of the fan blades as it cascaded to the other blades until it eventually left a gap to a door behind it.

Forta unlocked the door as Shepard took lead now. In the next room they could hear gun fire as someone shouted, "Shoot! Shoot!"

Shepard looked up as Forta climbed up the ladder, "Cerberus."

"How do you know that? Could be the Talons or…" before Aria could even suggest it was a Mandalorian a Cerberus soldier was flung through the glass, "Never mind."

Continuing into the next room they came upon a rather unsettling sight, Cerberus soldiers attempting to hold off an adjutant. "Damn it. Bev, there are adjutants here. Track our progress, and seal the rooms behind us. Don't let this thing have a back door."

"_Locking down the doors now._"

With nothing left that they could do, the team pushed forward, discovering more dead Cerberus soldiers and personnel, and a recording that just continued to repeat itself, "_…with the civilian population contained, we should be ready to…_"

"Looks like they bit off more than they could chew."

Aria tipped one of the hanging bodies over, "We should get moving."

"Not before we find out what they were doing."

Mandalore walked to the console next to the shattered glass of the containment pod. After a few adjustments the recording was fix and played its message in its entirety. "_With the civilian population contained, we should be ready to initiate the next phase of the project on schedule. Before host conversion, we should begin the process of fusing the control implants to the subject's nervous system. With the current success ratio, we project being able to surpass demand by 300 percent._"

Mandalore then played back the first recording available, "_The first generation adjutants have been transferred from the containment area and are being outfitted with the implants. The previous batches have been processed and moved to the storage area._"

He now played the next recording, "_We can now control when and where the adjutants convert their victims. Initial testing on various species provides ample proof the virus can adapt flawlessly regardless of the host used._"

"Bev, pull up records from Cerberus and the Talons. How many people surrendered, and how many have they taken?"

There was a rather long pause, "_Records indicate over two hundred gang members and resistance fighters accepted Petrovsky's offer of amnesty. Another thousand or so civilians have been collected for 'registration'._"

Mandalore slammed his vibroblade through the console's monitor. "_Demagolka'se_!" He stepped away from the console, "Forta, salvage what you can. Sorry. Those bastards have been trying to control the adjutants from the very beginning, all of the lives lost to study these things!"

"Are we going to tell the others?"

Mandalore started cracking his knuckles, "I'm tempted to, but I don't want them fighting angry. They've got civvies to watch over. And you know how some of them are when angry."

* * *

Bev had C3 purge the consoles while maintaining control over security and deactivate the lights once the remaining personnel had been evacuated. Cerberus finally managed to open the welded doors and rushed into the command center. With the blast shields closed to the dock and the other doors locked down, the only light source was from the room they just came through. A few of them activated their flashlights to get a better look around. They were walking right into his trap. As soon as the commander attempted to activate the lights several hidden turrets came online and started to mow through the unfortunate troopers. The few that weren't killed fall back through the doors and managed to toss a grenade or two that disabled the turrets.

While the assault team attempted to reorganize themselves a knife was tossed from the darkness as it struck one of the soldiers through the helmet's eye slit, killing him before he realized it. The others opened fire in the direction the knife came from, trying to kill the one who tossed it. After several seconds, two of them moved to investigate.

In a swift and relentless assault, something killed both soldiers before they could react to their assailant. The survivors opened fire again, only hitting their dead comrades. Something was rolled to them from the other side before it became apparent what it was. At first they assumed it to be a grenade and tried to flee only it wasn't. The 'grenade' was a flash bang, disabling them to fall prey to the one who used it. Bev had one of force pikes fully extended, beating each one of them to the ground or wall before using the sharp ends to finish them.

More Cerberus soldiers were now coming to assault the command center and Bev retreated back to the hanger. Leading Cerberus into the hanger where an ambush had been set up, using the _Tervho_'s outer defenses to cover Bev as the other Mandalorians joined to wipe them out. "Mandalorians, next wave incoming!"

* * *

Shepard pressed the button on the elevator taking them up from Gozu district. "_Nyreen here. Something's not right._"

"Cerberus is still on my station. Of course something's not right."

"_Not what I was talking about. I'm checking this out. Going radio silent._"

Mandalore looked to Aria, "What the hell is she doing?"

Once the elevator opened, they were behind a defense line with three members of the Talons. One of them walked toward them as Shepard turned to him, "Where's Nyreen?"

"Scouting ahead. We've got our hands full, holding this area."

One of the Talons moved the crate aside for them, though Aria quickly pieced it together, "She's going on to Afterlife!" running to catch up.

* * *

A group of civilians managed to reach the main entrance to Afterlife, however the Cerberus squad defending it weren't letting up. The fight seemed one sided, or it was until Cerberus fell back and locked the door. A group of adjutants had found their way over there and the civilians were now backed against a wall. Two of them tried fighting back, but it was completely futile as they were torn apart.

Nyreen found her way into this, drawing the attention of the adjutants, only for three more to move in from behind her. She looked around and grabbed the grenade belt off a dead Cerberus Guardian, activating the grenades as she tossed them just in front of herself. Aria was running as fast as she could, but Nyreen projected a modest size biotic field around herself, the adjutants and the grenades. Before the adjutants could completely encircle her or the grenades detonated, Nyona rushed out from the shadows and slid her way into Nyreen's biotic bubble. Nyona creating her own biotic sphere just before the grenades detonated.

The black smoke of the detonation was thick inside of the bubble, as the others were unable to discern if the two survived. The outer sphere dissipated and the smoke hastily fanned out to reveal Nyona and Nyreen both safe, minus Nyona's left foot. She didn't have time to adjust the size to compensate for her slide. Nyona was muscling through the obvious pain, holding up the biotic barrier just to forget about it. "Nyona!"

Mandalore and Forta rushed to her aid, getting medi-gel ready to apply to the amputated limb for anesthetic purposes. Nyreen was prepared for death in exchange for the civilians who were now moving out of their way. Nyona finally dropped the barrier as she let out a painful scream before the medi-gel was applied to the charred cauterized flesh. When she could finally speak, she looked to Aria, "Guess this is why people like us don't play the hero…"

Aria clenched her fist, looked to Afterlife as a few Cerberus soldiers were sent out to investigate the situation. She ran at them, blasting the two over the edge, "Tell your boss I'm coming for him!" jumping through the doors before they could close her out.

"Damn it, Aria." Nyreen turned to Shepard and Mandalore. "You two make sure she doesn't do something stupid. I'll stay here with your friend until a medic can arrive."

"Or a Jedi." Forta nodded to Mandalore, as he did what he could to ease Nyona's pain.

Forta watched Mandalore open the door with Aria shouting, "Enough! I will kill you all!" blasting the Cerberus soldiers surrounding her with nothing but her biotics. "Petrovsky dies. Now!"

Forta looked to Nyona, "Hold tight, help will be here soon. Aay'han, can you read me? We're just outside of Afterlife and we have a Mandalorian down."

"_Who?!_"

"Nyona, and she's lost a foot. I'm doing what I can to help with the pain, though it looks like the cauterization will prevent infection."

* * *

In the heart of Afterlife, Petrovsky was standing where Aria's couch originally used to be. Nothing about the bar was the same, it had been completely renovated for military purposes. Looking down upon the trio, Petrovsky scoffed, "You Mandalorians are a well-trained, efficient group. It's a shame one of your soldiers had to suffer such an unnecessary injury."

That only proved to provoke Aria and Mandalore. "You're a dead man!"

Mandalore got his DC-17 set to its anti-armor configuration, but Shepard quickly lowered the weapon, "No, wait!" It was too late for Aria however, as she jumped right at him only for a strange device that had been set up where the massive monitor in the center of the bar once was activated, trapping the powerful biotic in energy binders. Mandalore shrugged Shepard off his weapon, as they turned to Petrovsky, "What now, Petrovsky?"

"Divide and conquer, Commander. Kandros killed the adjutants we hadn't finished experimenting on…" below him the door opened as a pair of adjutants walked in, "These are fully under our control-the prototypes for our future army."

"You bastard!" Before Mandalore could fire, a shield quickly surrounded Petrovsky's booth, completely protecting him from anything. Mandalore looked around, signaling to Shepard the four generators holding Aria and the two he was going after. "You haven't seen the Mandalorian version, Petrovsky!"

* * *

Talon mercs had secured the area as Aay'han, Tishad and Lissarkh arrived to Nyona's side. "What? You guys came just for me? We have Cerberus assholes to kill. I think they take precedent, or the civvies."

"Not when it's one of our own."

Lissarkh started using her abilities to assist with alleviating the pain. "I am still maintaining my battle meditation, though weaker than it was it should be more than sufficient. However, I shouldn't be tasked with much else less I lose this concentration on both."

Tishad looked to the leg, "So what happens to her now? Getting put down like a sick dog?"

"Oh, ha, ha, bitch."

"Well, at least your personality is still intact. That's something. Hey Forta, can't you or someone create a metal foot for her now. I think it'll be an improvement."

"Just laugh it up. When I'm standing again, I'm going to pay you back, tenfold."

"She is right though." Forta was also keeping an eye out for any more Cerberus, "Rang's lab is a bit dangerous without him, and it'll take time to grow you a replacement foot. So if you want to be mobile without crutches, a temporary metal foot will have to do."

"Damn it…"

* * *

Shepard and Mandalore's division worked, Aria managed to break herself free after the binds holding her arms were destroyed. Despite the adjutants and the forces that tried to stop them, it was Petrovsky who finally submitted to what was coming. "Attention! All Cerberus forces: surrender!" The shield protecting the booth deactivated and the doors were unlocked as he walked over to a console to make this order station wide, "Cease and desist all aggression. It's over." Deactivating the holograms of his chess board, he turned to Shepard, "Commander Shepard, I surrender myself into your custody."

"That is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard."

Aria gave him a biotic backhand that sent him down to the ground. "Shepard, I'm unarmed…and I can give the Alliance intel on the Illusive Man!"

Mandalore however was standing above him, cutting Aria and Shepard from reaching Petrovsky, "You'll say just about anything if it means keeping yourself alive, even betraying those you were once loyal to."

"Wait, wait," cowering away from Mandalore's pistol, "I let her escape Omega. I deserve mercy."

Shepard turned to Aria, "Is this true, Aria?"

"It's partly true. After their little ruse to remove me from Omega, we started fighting back. Mandalore and his people were doing a number against occupying forces and they had Petrvosky in their sights, but this shit hole threatened to destroy Omega with his fleet… The Mandalorians could've faked his voice, but not his authorization codes."

Mandalore then kicked Petrovsky while he was still down, "Please, mercy…"

"Mercy?" Mandalore lifted Petrovsky up by the collar of his uniform, slowly edging his vibroblade to his throat, "What mercy did you show the civilians whom you mutilated for your goddamn experiments? What mercy was there for the gangs who surrendered to you only to be turned into adjutants? You show me where you gave any decent amount of mercy, and I might do so in return."

"But the intel! It could save lives, give you a fighting chance against Cerberus…"

Mandalore tossed Petrovsky back to the ground, "General…"

Mandalore tapped the side of his helmet as the speaker activated with a female voice coming through, "_Cerberus encryption codes 27, 14, 5, and 11. Passwords: Achilles, Psyche, Orpheus, George S. Patton, Cyrus the Great, Hannibal Barca, Erwin Rommel, Temujin, John Churchill, Oda Nobunaga, Ulysses S. Grant, Sun Tzu, and Yue Fei._"

Mandalore pressed the pistol to Petrovsky's forehead, "You see, we already have the intel in our grasp. And for your information, it's true you're unarmed but you were never a prisoner." Mandalore waited to see Petrovsky's realization before pulling the trigger. Mandalore walked out of Aria's booth, finding Lissarkh just standing there. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I know this isn't something you would have approved of and…"

She stopped him, raising her hand to do so. "While it is true my Jedi training would demand he be taken alive, his crimes against life here during Aria's absence cannot be simply overlooked as they would should he had the chance to a plea bargain."

Mandalore looked back, "I didn't even stick around long enough to see how Shepard or Aria reacted."

Shepard was walking down now, "She joked how she rubbed off on you more than the two of us rubbed off on her."

"And you? What do you think of her and me?"

Shepard looked back as Aria looked down to the citizens who were gathering within Afterlife, "Citizens of Omega, hear me. I, Aria T'Loak, have given you back your lives."

"I don't completely agree with your decision, but he did cause plenty of death. And hopefully Aria will also learn something from us too."

Aria was now at the console, addressing the rest of the station, "My rule is reignited. My hand is on the controls once more, and I will not let go again." Shepard, Mandalore and Lissarkh walked out as Aria continued her speech, "Each of you owes a debt. Gain my favor by rounding up the remaining Cerberus invaders, and…" Aria looked down for a moment, _"…and we cast them from our home, then bury and mourn our dead. My methods haven't always been popular, and I can't promise that will change. But securing this station and everyone inside it is now my primary purpose._" Aria's biotics started flaring for a moment, "_No one will imprison us again. We may be bruised. We may be bloodied. But we are Omega!_"

Aay'han and Tishad were already moving back to the _Tervho_ with Nyona as Forta and Nyreen were waiting for them. Shepard turned to Nyreen, "So, think you can keep Omega safe?"

"I'll do my best. And so will the Talons. I think this change is something Aria needed. Too bad it was at such a cost to teach her."

Mandalore grabbed Forta's shoulder, "Those two are tough. I'd be surprised if this did anything more than fuel their anger toward Cerberus." Mandalore looked back to Afterlife, then to Shepard. "Come on. We'll get you back to the Citadel. We can't keep Wrex and the krogan people waiting for a cure to the genophage any longer."

* * *

**A/N: **Nyreen really didn't deserve to die, but the power of a fanfic can right this wrong. When Petrovsky was first shown to care about the men under his command and civilian lives in the comics I thought he might be worth saving, but after seeing that he had a hand in the projection and experimentation of the adjutants, kinda hard to just look aside and accept his surrender without feeling utterly shameful(though in-game Aria has hackers working on Cerberus files that give out the same amount of war assets if you keep the f-er alive).

_**Mandalorian Translation:** _

Demagolka(deh-mah-GOHL-kah)- someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal - from the notorious Mandalorian scientist of the Old Republic, Demagol, known for his experiments on children, and a figure of hate and dread in the Mando psyche


End file.
